Ursula Arnold
Sibylle Bergemann
Arno Fischer
Helga Paris
Evelyn Richter
Maria Sewcz
Erasmus Schroeter
Gundula Schulze-Eldowy
Ulrich Wüst
Matthew Shaul
Ursula Arnold, Sibylle Bergemann, Arno Fischer, Helga Paris, Evelyn Richter, Maria Sewcz, Erasmus Schroeter, Gundula Schulze-Eldowy, Ulrich Wust
Ursula Arnold, Sibylle Bergemann, Arno Fischer, Helga Paris, Evelyn Richter,
Maria Sewcz, Erasmus Schroeter, Gundula Schulze-Eldowy, Ulrich Wüst
Curated by Matthew Shaul
Do Not Refreeze brings together a group of photographers whose extraordinary
contribution to European photography has been 'frozen out' by the Cold War. Almost
completely unknown in Britain, these artists developed their practice in the former
East Germany negotiating its omnipresent secret police to create imagery,
increasingly compared to that of luminaries such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Diane
Arbus and Paul Strand.
Disparate in background and experience, their works use an unforgiving documentary
aesthetic to convey both the harsh realities and remarkable richness of life behind
the iron curtain. The stunning images convey a glimpse of day-to-day life and evoke
the claustrophobia, rage, envy and ideological pomp of the Communist era as well as
its unexpected personal warmth, tenderness and exoticism.
Sticking closely to the mantra of 'realism' - the state-directed creed that defined
what was artistically acceptable - these photographers circumnavigated a rigid
system of censorship to produce the most insightful and openly critical visual arts
output in East Germany's forty-year history. Had they been painters, sculptors,
authors or playwrights, these photographers would have been arrested or imprisoned
for their brazen portrayals of the underbelly of the socialist experiment. However,
as photography was not considered by the East German authorities to be 'art', these
artists were, incredibly, not only able to work and have ongoing professional
contact with their western contemporaries such as Robert Frank and Henri Cartier
Bresson, but sometimes also to publish and exhibit in this police state.
All these photographers had at their disposal were the pared down range of motifs,
locations and subject matter, of East Germany, the Soviet Union and its satellite
states. The resulting images reveal the humour, stoicism and resignation with which
East Germany's citizens dealt with their lives.
Do Not Refreeze is a touring exhibition from the University of Hertfordshire
Galleries. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Arts Council England,
and IFA - the German Government's Institute for Foreign Relations. With support from
Goethe Institut, Manchester and Staatliche Galerie, Moritzburg Halle,
Landeskunstmuseum, Saxony-Anhalt.
Opening: Thu 12 April, 6 - 9pm
Cornerhouse
70 Oxford Street - Manchester
Tue - Sat 11am - 6pm . Thu late night until 8pm . Sun 2-6pm
Free Admission