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1 East German artists as political refugees By Fabiola G.P. Bierhoff Summary: Analyses of refugees generally focus on political and ethnic refugees; this essay marks a bold departure by focusing on artists, a group that is generally acknowledged to be persecuted by totalitarian regimes, but does not often become the focus of academic research. In the period between 1961-1989 the regulated art system of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) led to a large scale exodus of at least fifteen hundred artists to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).1 Several young artists, who were born in the post-World War II period, did so in order to discontinue working according to the rigid confines of the art policy that favoured Socialist Realism as an ideal style for the construction of a socialist utopia. For this generation, who experienced the devastating impact of World War II only through the stories of their parents, the GDR was “a dead corpse, dead to an extent that you could only make fun of it”, as the performance artist Else Gabriel stated shortly after the collapse of the regime.2 Their utter disillusionment in the failing socialist society was expressed in autonomous artistic production that embraced Western modernist approaches such as performance art, and sought legitimation in its disturbing impact on a closed society.3 However, this nonconformist attitude put artists in the crosshairs of the secret police (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit/MfS or Stasi), that in turn criminalized their actions, and ultimately sought to dismantle or destroy artistic groups.4 In order to continue developing their modernist art practice and being recognized as artists, several artists were 1 Hartmut Pätzke, “Register Ausgebürgert”, in: Eingegrenzt, Ausgegrenzt, Bildene Kunst und Parteiherrschaft in der DDR 1961-1989, Berlin 2000, pp 557-694. 2 Eckhart Gillen, Das Kunstkombinat DDR. Zäsuren einer gescheiterten Kunstpolitik, Cologne 2005, p 153. Gabriel in a conversation with Gillen in 1991: “Eine Leiche, so tot, daß man sich nur noch lustigmachen konnte.” 3 In Western Europe and North America performance art developed in part as a response to the commercialisation of the art object, as artists endeavoured to create works of art that could not be bought or sold. The meaning and significance of art works created in the East is different, even though they may resemble Western performance art, since it enabled artists to express ideas outside the official discourse. 4 Hannelore Offner, “Überwachung, Kontrolle, Manipulation”, in: Eingegrenzt, Ausgegrenzt, Bildene Kunst und Parteiherrschaft in der DDR 1961-1989, Berlin 2000, pp 169-275. © 2014 The Middle Ground Journal Number 9, Fall 2014 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal's not-for-profit educational open-access policy 2 left no other choice than to emigrate, whether through internal migration or fleeing to ‘non- socialist’ foreign countries. This exodus occurred despite the fact that the bureaucracy of an emigration application (Ausreiseantrag) was unyielding and the process could take up to six years. In the mid 1980s, when the overall problems of the socialist system became more apparent, the application rate increased significantly.5 For years, applicants literally lived amidst their packed boxes in anticipation of a definitive answer on their emigration applications. Once in the West, they faced new challenges as they transitioned from the state-controlled model of artistic production of the East towards the market-led approach favoured in the West, with marked effects on their work. After all of these efforts and sacrifices, deserting artists ended up only a few years later in a state where the former East suddenly became West. This article addresses the numerous problems fleeing GDR artists had to deal with prior to and after the difficult emigration procedures of the 1980s. It makes use of oral history to get an understanding of the situation in both East and West Germany. By depicting the paradox of working as a ‘free’ artist in the West and the role of the émigré artist after the collapse of East Germany, this essay seeks to contribute to the understanding of the artistic turn in their oeuvres and the implications of leaving behind their artistic past. Why would an artist who was the visual translator of the socialist utopia and thus generally enjoyed a high status and a good income have a desire to flee in the first place? By pointing out the core limitations artists found themselves confronted with, a better understanding of their motives for pursuing emigration to the West will evolve. By focusing on the (self-) controlled and regulated art system of the GDR we can define the artistic constraints and thereby the limitations for the younger generation. The hierarchal structure of East Germany’s ruling party, the SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands/Socialist Unity Party of Germany), was reflected in its 5 Anja Hanisch, Die DDR im KSZE-Prozess 1972-1985, Munich 2012, pp 326-371. © 2014 The Middle Ground Journal Number 9, Fall 2014 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal's not-for-profit educational open-access policy 3 subsidized cultural sector. In order to influence the artistic landscape and promote the official artistic style, Socialist Realism, the state government founded the Verband Bildender Künstler Deutschlands (short: VBKD or VBK), the artists’ union, in the early 1950s. Association with this union was mandatory to pursue an artistic career.6 The union enforced the right to use special food cards in the early years of the socialist state, supported artists’ efforts to find a studio or apartment, and most importantly assigned commissions for art works. Simultaneously, the VBK was used as a political instrument that implemented actual dogmas of the art policy, such as the promotion of the prototypical function of Soviet art in society. Meanwhile, the cultural department carried out campaigns against expressionism, formalism, cosmopolitism, abstract art and heavily debated performance arts in the 1980s.7 Non-conformists, i.e. those who worked in an independent manner, could continue their work only through private funding or at their own expense. Artists whose art was not in alignment with the dogma prescribed by the official socialist style were therefore excluded from art exhibitions and commissions and could even be banned from exhibition and work. In order to avoid denunciation by the state (being categorized as antisocial was a serious matter in the socialist state since it had effects on the prospects of an entire family), some of them sought other, non-artistic jobs or led an artistic “double-life” in which they served both the official and unofficial art scenes.8 In the 1980s several young East German artists, who were in their 20s or early 30s, became active in a dynamic underground scene that had been mainly boosted by new wave and punk influences and faced the audience with the lethargic artistic cul-de-sac caused by the conservative character of the SED. Despite the repressive cultural policy attempted to regain artistic 6 Both artists and art historians had to be affiliated with the artists’ union. 7 The main generational schism in the artists’ union appeared in different approaches towards multi-media art. In 1971 the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, Erich Honecker, announced a degree of cultural liberalization in his Weite & Vielfalt [Breadth and Diversity] program. Yet, despite its progressive sounding name, the program did not lead to many changes. Artists were still obliged to follow the strict path that the Ministry of Culture had paved for them. However, within the official art world there were ongoing discussions about the future of socialist art, since new artistic developments did not remain unnoticed. 8 Fabiola Bierhoff, Hunger for pictures, lust for life and appetite for change: The role of official and unofficial exhibitions in the art scene of the GDR, between 1971 and 1989, unpublished master thesis, Free University Amsterdam, 2009. © 2014 The Middle Ground Journal Number 9, Fall 2014 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal's not-for-profit educational open-access policy 4 terrain and regulate the artistic production, the tangible counter-cultural niches were increasing. In studios, residences and private galleries hidden in courtyards, an art scene flourished which added a new dimension to the East German artistic landscape. Counter-cultural artists gradually explored and integrated different art forms, such as Aktionskunst (a German term that comprises multimedia art involving visual as well as dramatic and musical elements), in their own art practice. Apart from the reappraisal of performance art, this young generation was also inspired by concepts from American art, postmodernism, French philosophy (deconstructivism and poststructuralism), and neoexpressionism. Illegal counter-cultural gatherings can commonly be characterized as cross-over festivities organized and attended by a mixture of artist union members and autodidacts combining live punk music, multi-media art, avant-garde fashion and experimental literature. The heavy state policing of the alternative art scene reflected the overtly political nature of many of the works presented. In 1985 the enfant terrible of GDR art criticism, Christoph Tannert, organized the art festival Intermedia in Coswig, a small town in East Germany (Figures 1 and 2). Intermedia was conceptualized as an experimental playground for all ephemeral, processual, experimental and performative arts. Over a thousand like-minded artists (super-8 filmmakers, punk, jazz and tape musicians and performance artists) from all over the republic joined this event. One of the most contentious exhibits was by experimental media artist Lutz Dammbeck, who presented his media collage Herakles (Figures 3 and 4), in which he combined film projection, painting, poetry, music and dance, a new phenomenon in the East German art world that still heavily relied on the classical genres of painting, sculpture, and graphics.