13609

WiSe 19/20: The history of reception of African art in the former German Democratic Republic

Romuald Tchibozo

Information for students

(LV in englischer Sprache)

Comments

This seminar is dedicated to the history of the reception of African art in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). We will scrutinize this history of reception of African art in the ex-GDR through ideology choice, structures of governance, museums, and artists’ associations like the very active “Verband der Bildenden Künstler der DDR” which organized the most important artistic event of the ?East bloc countries,“ the Triennale Intergrafik. The course retraces the reception of African art according to artistic exchange programs and exhibitions policies in times of Cold War: How was historic, modern and contemporary art included and displayed in museums in the ex-GDR, for example at the GRASSI Museum in Leipzig or the Museum für Völkerkunde in Dresden? What was the ex-GDR government institutional role? What was the institutional role of these museums for shaping a specific ‘gaze’ on African Art? Which countries and artists were invited to the Intergrafik Triennale in East Berlin (from 1965–1987) and how did these displays differ from presentations in West Berlin, for example at the Festival Horizonte – Festival der Weltkulturen which was held in 1979? We will thus discuss the presentation of African art in ex-GDR and ask how exhibitions were at the same time diplomatic tool and hegemonic strategy. Based on my extensive research on this topic, I will also give insight into a wide range of material from the museums’ archives. This approach will help students not only to analyze museum displays at this time, but also to get a deeper understanding of the museums networks – and more generally of the relationships between the German Democratic Republic and African (socialist) countries in the context of Cold War. close

Suggested reading

Introductory reading: Applebaum, Anne: Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–56, Allen Lane 2012. Bautz, Karin/ Blesse, Giselher: Die Vergessene Expedition: auf den Spuren der Leipziger Moçambique-Expedition Spannaus/ Stülpner (1931), Leipzig 1999. Blesse, Giselher: Moderne Makonde Plastik: Kunst aus Ostafrika, Leipzig 1984. Cheng, Yinghong: Creating the new man: From Enlightenment ideals to socialist realities, Hawaii 2009. Chabal, Patrick Nuno Vidal: Angola: The Weight of History, New York 2007. Collier, Delinda: Art in a state of emergency: Figuring Angolan nationalism 1953-2007, Emory 2010. Geering, Corinne: A Future Lost: Artistic Appropriations of the Socialist Internationalist Legacy in Africa [Review on: Nash, Mark (Ed.): Red Africa. Affective Communities and the Cold War. London: 2016.], in: KULT_online No. 50, 2017. Goeschen, Ulrike: From Socialist Realism to Art in Socialism: The Reception of Modernism as an Instigating Force in the Development of Art in the GDR, in: Third Text, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 45–77. Hütt, Wolfgang: Junge Bildende Künstler der DDR. Skizzen in Situation der Kunst in unserer Zeit, Leipzig 1965. Catalogues: Intergrafik – Internationale Triennale engagierter Grafik in der DDR, Ausstellungszentrum am Fernsehturm. Nash Mark (Ed.): Red Africa, Affective Communities and the Cold War, London 2016. Schneider, Elizabeth Ann: Malangatana: Artist of the Revolution, in: African Arts, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1988, pp. 58-63+88. Schwabe, Stefanie: Identité et mémoire : art contemporain en RDA et dans les nouveaux Länder à partir de 1971, in: Dammbeck, Lutz/ Sachse, Karla: Art et histoire de l’art, Rennes 2012. Siegert, Nadine: Re-mapping Luanda. Internationale Netzwerke und lokale Widerständigkeiten in der zeitgenössischen Kunstproduktion Angolas, Diss., Universität Bayreuth 2011. Siegert Nadine: Luanda Lab – Nostalgia and Utopia in Aesthetic Practice, Critical Interventions, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2014, pp. 176–200. Tchibozo Romuald: L’Art et L’Arbitraire : une étude de la réception de l’art africain contemporain en Occident: le cas allemand de 1950 à nos jours, Diss., HU Berlin 2003. Tchibozo, Romuald: L’art contemporain d’Afrique et la guerre froide: le cas allemand, Saarbrücken, 2014. Tchibozo, Romuald: From Ethno-aesthetic to Socialist Realism, Aesthetic Practices in Africa and New Territories of Art History: The Role of Institutions, in: New Worlds: Frontiers, Inclusion, Utopias, São Paulo 2017, pp. 215–231. close