Spätschicht x Gabriele Stötzer

With Sarah Blaßkiewitz, Heike Geißler, Julia Grosse, Sara Neidorf, Minh Duc Pham, Angelika Richter, Annette Schumann, Gabriele Stötzer and Christine Wolf

Drawing: Nude figure with knife and branch, spiral background

For the October edition of Spätschicht, we invite you to join us for an evening of conversations and performances in the context of Gabriele Stötzer’s solo exhibition Dabei sein und nicht schweigen. Stötzer’s artistic practice is closely linked to her social and political activism. In 1976, she was imprisoned in the GDR on charges of “defamation of the state”. She subsequently joined the literary and artistic underground and developed an independent, radical practice that combines art and political resistance.

This evening at Gropius Bau and Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, artists, theorists and authors come together to explore themes of justice, self-assertion and indomitable spirits.

Spätschicht at the Stiftung Brandenburger Tor

The evening begins at 18:15 with a panel discussion at the Stiftung Brandenburger Tor in the Max Liebermann Haus: Gabriele Stötzer, Angelika Richter and Julia Grosse will be discussing the interdisciplinary practices of female artists from the GDR and the contemporary significance of this important chapter in East German art history.

From 20:00, the programme continues with conversations and performances at the Gropius Bau. This jointly organised edition of the Spätschicht live programme marks the start of a long-term collaboration between the Gropius Bau and the Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, the cultural foundation of the Berliner Sparkasse. This new form of cultural collaboration in Berlin is intended to serve as a model for the cultural world of tomorrow – with artists who, across genres, create new and participatory spaces for everyone.

Gabriele Stötzer has been exploring questions of justice, gender and self-determination for more than five decades. Until the fall of the GDR, she was a prominent figure in the East German art and underground scene and co-founded Exterra XX (formerly known as Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt). Stötzer was also among the initiators of the citizens’ movement “Frauen für Veränderung” and participated in the occupation of the Erfurt Stasi headquarters during the period of political transformation. Her artistic and civic engagement has been recognised with numerous honours, including the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Pauli Prize of Kunsthalle Bremen. Today, she lives and works in Erfurt.

Spätschicht x Gabriele Stötzer is a collaboration with the Stiftung Brandenburger Tor and is curated by Julia Grosse, curator of the exhibition Dabei sein und nicht schweigen, with Nora-Swantje Almes, Alexandra Philippovskaya and Edessa Malke from the curatorial team of Gropius Bau.

During the event, photographs and video recordings may be made in which you may be recognisable. By attending, you consent to these recordings being used to communicate the event or exhibition.