Exterra XX
Monika Andres, Tely Büchner, Gabriele Göbel, Ina Heiner, Angelika Hummel, Verena Kyselka, Birgit Quehl, Gabriele Stötzer
various performances
Exterra XX was a feminist performance group that lasted several years and emerged from the alternative art scene in the GDR in the early 1980s. In defiance of everyday life under socialism, the group lent individual dreams to provocative artistic forms that were combinations of poetry, sounds, clothing, painting and movement. In the beginning, the actions were held in private homes or were shown as Super 8 films. Showings were occasionally prohibited, but as the GDR fell apart, performances became more and more frequent. Exterra XX’s performances touched on politically explosive themes relating to the collapse of the GDR and the ensuing search for a new identity, new values and a new direction. Exterra XX was instrumental in occupying the central office of the local Stasi (Ministry for State Security, effectively a secret police system) in Erfurt in 1989. A year later, in 1990, they squatted a house, where they started the gallery Kunsthaus Erfurt, which is still running. The group consisted primarily of Verena Kyselka, Monika Andres, Tely Büchner, Gabriele Göbel, Ina Heiner, Angelika Hummel, Birgit Quehl and Gabriele Stötzer. It disbanded in 1994. BS
"Klangperformance at Kunststall Lietzen" (1989), "Periodischer Einzelgang neuzeitlicher Erscheinungen" (Objektperformance) (1989), and "Maskenaktion vor Erfurter Rathaus" (1991) are three performances by Exterra XX. They exemplify their use of body, fashion and action as form of protest against the restrictive East-German politics. Whilst the performances in Lietzen and the "Periodischer Einzelgang" at Galerie am Fischmarkt (which is now Kunsthalle Erfurt) were staged before the fall of the Berlin wall, the action with masks in front of the town hall happened after the dissolution of the GDR, and after the occupation of the Secret Police central office in 1989 that helped to prevent the destruction of incriminating material held by the Stasi. JE
courtesy Verena Kyselka