Unbraked Self-Movements in the Diesel Power Plant Cottbus: Photography as a Space of Freedom
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Photography as a Space of Freedom: Unbraked Self-Movements in the Diesel Power Plant Cottbus
The exhibition Unbraked Self-Movements. Art with Photography in the GDR focuses on an experimental image culture of the 1980s. At the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art, photography is not understood as neutral documentation but as material for self-assertion, self-expansion, and artistic transgression.
A Different Photography of the GDR
In the tightly regulated society of the GDR, artists developed idiosyncratic forms of alternative photography and grassroots photography. The works presented break away from journalistic-documentary understanding of images and reflect their own conditions. Staging, alienation, montage, and serial arrangement transform photographic surfaces into open areas of thought and action.
Between Body, Action, and Installation
The exhibition connects photography with performance, action, installation, body art, and conceptual processes. Body, space, and action enter into a tense dialogue. Photographic works do not merely document reality but create new image realities and make the process of artistic self-determination visible.
Artistic Positions Between Concept and Experiment
The exhibition features works by Claus Bach, Tina Bara, Micha Brendel, Kurt Buchwald, Klaus Elle, Irene Fischer, Thomas Florschuetz, Else Gabriel, Wolf Kahlen, Matthias Leupold, Olaf Martens, Cornelia Schleime, Erasmus Schröter, and Gabriele Stötzer, among others. Their diverse visual languages exemplify an art movement defined by idea, attitude, and process. Private photo portfolios and semi-legal magazines refer to the subcultural networks in which this art became visible.
Curatorial Perspective and Art Historical Classification
The exhibition concept was developed by Christoph Tannert as an external curator. The presentation makes a previously less visible chapter of East German modernity accessible and brings to the forefront a non-state-supporting art that evaded established categories. The photographic collection of the BLMK, supplemented by loans, provides precise access to experimental positions of late GDR.
The Diesel Power Plant as a Resonance Space
The industrial architecture of the former Diesel Power Plant enhances the exhibition atmosphere. Visible materials, clear spatial axes, and concentrated museum lighting meet photographic surfaces, serial structures, and multimedia works. In this spatial effect, an intense art experience emerges that combines artwork observation, cultural education, and aesthetic experience.
Conclusion: Visitors can expect a professionally grounded and sensually penetrating exhibition on freedom, memory, resistance, and artistic self-determination. Those interested in GDR art, experimental photography, performance, and installation will experience photography in the Diesel Power Plant Cottbus as action, attitude, and a space of freedom. The exhibition invites a live discovery of this important chapter in art history.
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