Unbraked Self-Movements at the Diesel Power Plant Cottbus
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Photography as a Space for Freedom and Cross-Border Crossing
The exhibition Unbraked Self-Movements. Art with Photography in the GDR at the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art – Diesel Power Plant Cottbus focuses on an experimental art practice of the 1980s. It highlights artists who did not perceive photography as a neutral documentation but as a material for liberation, self-expansion, and artistic boundary crossing.
Art with Photography Beyond Representation
The works presented combine photographic techniques with performance, installation, action, body art, and serial image sequences. Instead of a mere reproduction of reality, staging, alienation, montage, and a consciously open approach to the medium take center stage. Photography becomes a space for thought, where image, body, action, and social reality come into motion with each other.
A Different Photography of the GDR
The exhibition sheds light on currents of a different photography and a bottom-up photography that were closely linked to subcultural developments in the late GDR. Privately produced photo folders and semi-legal magazines formed important spaces for publication and exchange. The works reflect an artistic stance that evaded official image conventions and developed its own forms of aesthetic self-assertion.
Diverse Artistic Positions
Featured works include pieces by Claus Bach, Tina Bara, Micha Brendel, Kurt Buchwald, Klaus Elle, Irene Fischer, Thomas Florschuetz, Else Gabriel, Rainer Görß, Klaus Hähner-Springmühl, Wolf Kahlen, Matthias Leupold, Olaf Martens, Cornelia Schleime, Erasmus Schröter, and Gabriele Stötzer. The diversity of positions shows how differently photography can appear as an idea, gesture, performative process, and installation.
Curating and Art Historical Classification
The exhibition concept was developed by Christoph Tannert as an external curator. The exhibition makes a previously fragmentarily told chapter of East German art history visible and classifies the works in the interplay between experimental photography, conceptual art, performance, and subcultural image practice. The Diesel Power Plant Cottbus, with its industrial architecture, forms an impressive resonance space for this aesthetic experience.
Conclusion: An Intense Art Experience in Cottbus
Visitors can expect a concentrated examination of works about freedom, self-conception, and the political power of artistic forms. Those who want to discover photography as an open medium, GDR art, and contemporary image strategies will experience an inspiring exhibition at the Diesel Power Plant that bridges art history, cultural education, and a sensory exhibition atmosphere.
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- Website: https://www.blmk.de/programm/ungebremste-selbstbewegungen/
