A Virtual Film Series - Claiming Spaces: Art Interventions in East Germany

The DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Harvard Art Museums present CLAIMING SPACES: Art Interventions in East Germany, a virtual film series showcasing 22 films by or about artists.

The free series of films will be streamed here, from November 15 to November 24, 2024.

Screened in conjunction with the Harvard Art Museums’ special exhibition Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation (September 13, 2024–January 5, 2025), this virtual film series offers insight into the art world that existed parallel to official East German art of the late 1970s and 1980s. East Germany’s artistic heritage continues to shape the heterogeneity of German cultural identities, as well as the memory discourse that defines the German art scene today. Through novel and experimental means, these films provide important political and cultural context for the periods before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

The films also highlight East German creatives who were not endorsed by state-supported art initiatives. They claimed their own spaces, including private galleries, homes, and venues where they were able to exhibit art and conduct multimedia performances. The artists took different approaches to their work: they experimented with various formats, crossed genres, explored new media such as Super 8 film, and partnered with organizations like the DEFA Studio for Animation Films. Representing diverse artistic interventions, these works highlight East German collaborative filmmaking and raise complex questions about identity and cultural heritage today.

Ultimately, many artists featured in this series felt restricted in East Germany. After testing all available possibilities and imposed limits, they decided to cross the border to West Germany, where they became part of a “free” but competitive art market with its own challenges.

The series was curated and organized by Hiltrud Schulz and the DEFA Film Library Team. Technical support by Margaret Nguru, DEFA Film Library.

Beginning on November 15, you can access the stream at this link: https://www.umass.edu/defa/film-series/39715.

All films are in German with English subtitles, except for those without dialogue.

Claiming Spaces
First Leipzig Autumn Salon, 1984 (Dir. Lutz Dammbeck; 22 min.)
REALFilm, 1986 (Dir. Lutz Dammbeck; 48 min.)
La Villette, 1990 (Dir. Gerd Kroske; 53 min.)
Claiming Space–East Germany’s Independent Art Exhibition Scene, 2009. (Dir. Claus Löser; 100 min.)

Filmic Experiments
Lautaro, 1977 (Dir. Juan Forch; design by Chilean painter Hernando León; 18 min.)
Rosaura, 1978 (Dir. Lothar Barke; design by Chilean painter Hernando León; 6 min.)
Metamorphoses I, 1978–79 (Dir. Lutz Dammbeck; no dialogue; 7 min.)
Homage a La Sarraz, 1981 (Dir. Lutz Dammbeck; 12 min.)
Transformations: Potter’s Bull, Venus by Giorgione, Woman at the Clavichord, 1981 (Dir. Jürgen Böttcher; 56 min. [3 films])
Einmart, 1981 (Dir. Lutz Dammbeck; 15 min.)
Sitis, 1989 (Dir. Rainer Schade; no dialogue; 11 min.)
The Long Way, 1990 (Dir. Marion Rasche; drawings by Andreas Dress; no dialogue; 11 min.)
Selection of three Super 8 films

Art Interventions
Nude Photography—e.g. Gundula Schulze, 1983 (Dir. Helke Misselwitz; 12 min.)
Herrmann Glöckner: Short Visit, 1984 (Dir. Jürgen Böttcher; 32 min.)
Drawing a Line, 2014 (Dir. Gerd Kroske; 96 min.)

Memory Landscapes
The Painter Came from a Foreign Land, 1988 (Dir. Lutz Dammbeck; 43 min.)
Beauty & Decay, 2019 (Dir. Annekatrin Hendel; 79 min.)

The film series is supported by the Richard L. Menschel Endowment Fund at the Harvard Art Museums and the DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Special thanks to filmmaker and media artist Lutz Dammbeck and film historian Claus Löser for their curatorial advice and to all filmmakers and artists who created these films.

Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation is made possible by the Daimler Curatorship of the Busch-Reisinger Museum Fund, the Carola B. Terwilliger Bequest, German Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Care of the Busch-Reisinger Museum Collection Endowment. Additional support was provided by the Goethe-Institut Boston and the Dedalus Foundation. Related programming is supported by the Richard L. Menschel Endowment Fund and the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund. Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.