Angelika Richter, Body Action, Lecture, 2009. re.act.feminism - performance art of the 1960s and 70s today, Conference and Live Performances, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Angelika Richter
Body Action. Performative tendencies in East Germany

The art historian Angelika Richter contributed to the re.act.feminism #2 catalogue, published by Bettina Knaup and Beatrice E. Stammer in 2014. Her research focusses on gender issues, Eastern European art and culture, with specialism in performance and media art. She held positions as International Exhibition Coordinator for the Liverpool Biennale 2002, as artistic director at media association Werkleitz Gesellschaft in Halle 2003-2006 and as chief executive of artists association Deutscher Künstlerbund 2018-2021. Since 2021, she has been rector of the art academy Berlin-Weißensee.

This lecture provides an introduction into the specific political and cultural situation in the GDR which has to be taken into account when we take a closer look at the visual arts and especially at the work by female (underground) artists. The lecture will follow the question why there has neither been a feminist tradition in the fine arts nor the emergence of a performance art in East Germany in the 1960s and early 1970s. We have to rethink the idea and notion of "performance" when we look at the crossover of facial and body paint actions, action experiments with costumes and masks, Dadaistic theatre plays, expressive dance and music sessions, play readings, plein air meetings, environments, improvisations, super 8 films and later the rituals of the so-called "Autoperforationsartisten" that emerged in the late 1970s and 1980s (with performances by Erika Stürmer-Alex, Karla Woisnitza, Christine Schlegel, Fine Kwiatkowski, Cornelia Schleime and Else Gabriel).

Format
Audio Document

Document media
Lecture

Issue date
2009

To be seen in
re.act.feminism - performance art of the 1960s and 70s today, Conference and Live Performances, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 23.1.2009, 5:40 pm