From 1974 to 1990, Hans-Jörg Schirmbeck worked in the Fine Arts Department of the Center for Art Exhibitions of the GDR (ZfK), where he conceived and organised exhibitions of art from the GDR for international audiences.
For the finissage of Rauschen: Echoes of an Institution, art historian Hans-Jörg Schirmbeck leads a guided tour through the exhibition. Drawing on his experience, he discusses the institution’s role at the intersection of state cultural policy and international cultural exchange, as well as the possibilities for artistic and curatorial freedom within its structures. The tour offers first-hand insights into the history of the ZfK and the changing conditions of GDR cultural foreign policy.
On September 18 at 18:00, ifa Gallery Berlin, together with historians Dr Alexia Pooth and Dr Swantje Greve, invites you to a panel discussion on a little-known chapter in German art and contemporary history: the GDR’s participation in documenta 6 in 1977, when, for the first and only time, artists from the GDR were represented […] Read More
In the workshop series ‘Public Print Movement goes Publik Machen’, participants work alongside the artist and art educator Katharina Marszewski to create their own artist’s book for each of the five exhibitions in the ifa’s Publik Machen series. Read More
In Rauschen: Echoes of an Institution, the ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen explores the work and legacy of the Centre for Art Exhibitions of the GDR (Zentrum für Kunstausstellungen der DDR, or ZfK) in unprecedented depth.
