Unrestricted Self-Movements at the Diesel Power Plant Cottbus: Experience GDR Photography Anew
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Photography as a Space of Freedom: Unrestricted Self-Movements at the Diesel Power Plant Cottbus
The exhibition Unrestricted Self-Movements. Art with Photography in the GDR focuses on an experimental image practice of the 1980s. At the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art, photography is not presented as neutral documentation but as material for liberation, self-expansion, and artistic transgression.
Another Photography of the GDR
In the tightly regulated society of the GDR, artists developed an independent, subculturally influenced art with photography. Staging, alienation, montage, and serial order liberated the medium from its journalistic-documentary framework. The photographic image became a space of thought, an artistic gesture, and a possibility to redefine reality.
Image, Body, and Action in Motion
The exhibition connects photographic techniques with performance, body art, installation, action, and conceptual strategies. Body, space, material, and action enter into a tense dialogue. Serial sequences of images and performative traces make visible how an artistic practice formed beyond established categories.
Artistic Positions Beyond Official Image Conventions
Works are on display from 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, among others. Their diverse positions showcase the variety of a non-state-supporting art, which often became visible in privately produced photo albums and semi-legal magazines.
Curating and Art Historical Context
The exhibition concept was developed by Christoph Tannert as an external curator. The presentation combines holdings of the collection of the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art with loans and places the works within the cultural history of the late GDR. A differentiated view of artistic autonomy under the conditions of state control emerges between experimental photography, conceptual art, performance, and subcultural image culture.
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 focused museum lighting allow photographic surfaces, serial structures, and cross-media works to engage in an intense dialogue. Viewing the works combines historical knowledge with sensory perception and opens up an aesthetic experience of freedom, body, memory, and self-assertion.
Conclusion: Seeing GDR Art Anew
Visitors can expect a powerful art experience about the political and poetic power of photography. Anyone wanting to discover modern art, East German art history, installation, and performative image strategies from a new perspective should definitely experience this exhibition live at the Diesel Power Plant Cottbus.
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- Website: https://www.blmk.de/programm/ungebremste-selbstbewegungen/
