Gabriele Stötzer: Dabei sein und nicht schweigen

Stötzer’s artistic practice is inextricably linked to her social and political engagement. In 1976, she was detained for organising a petition, which the GDR authorities declared a “defamation of state.” Following a year-long imprisonment, she joined the literary and artistic underground and later co-founded the art collective Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt. Many of her works formulate radical counter-concepts to state repression and control by pushing boundaries through experimentation and making space for vulnerability and desire. With around 150 works, the exhibition highlights the diversity of her œuvre – encompassing painting, literature, photography, textile art, Super 8 film, performance and public interventions – and intends to catalyse the long-overdue broader recognition of this groundbreaking artist.