East Berlin's art scene. The artist Sabine Herrmann on networks in the city and beyond.
Topic:
Private Contacts
Periods:
1986 — 1986
Artists:
Sabine Herrmann
Klaus Killisch
Mikael Eriksson
Beata Palucka
Artist Sabine Herrmann on the art scene of (East) Berlin in the 1980s and 1990s and encounters that shaped her and her artistic work.
The 1980s in East Berlin are associated with an artistic avant-garde whose central setting is the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood. The artist Sabine Herrmann finds herself in this network of young artists and cultural workers, galleries and workshops. She studied painting and graphic arts at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee from 1981–1986. In addition to her independent work, she also founded a group of artists with Klaus Killisch, Jens-Uwe Raddatz, Beata Palucka, and Susanne Rast, whose exhibitions were shown at the Galerie Passage (1988) and Galerie Weißer Elefant (1989) in Berlin, among others. This period was marked on the one hand by an opening up of art and cultural policy, and on the other hand by the loss of many artists and friends who emigrated to the West. In this field of tension, the works of Sabine Herrmann emerged, which over time turned from a focus on portrait painting to abstraction. With large-format paintings and a reference to expressionist images from the city's 1920s, Sabine Herrmann's group of artists set themselves apart from established visual languages such as those of the "Berlin School" and developed their own attitude and form.
Interview mit Sabine Herrmann in Berlin, 17.10.2022
In the interview, the artist talks about art historical influences and references for her own work, both through the location Berlin and the exchange with artists such as Beata Palucka, who, through her family background in the environment of artists in Poland with international exhibition experience, inspired new visual languages. Contrary to the common perception of a complete isolation of the GDR, the artists were very aware for example of the West Berlin art scene – according to Sabine Herrmann. Traveling to neighboring countries also granted impressions in exhibitions or films that could not be seen in the GDR itself. Furthermore, the artist tells about the so-called transformation period of the 1990s and what this meant for the network of artists as well as her own artistic work.
The painter Klaus Killisch graduated from the Weißensee School of Art in 1986 and has been working freelance in Berlin ever since. In the interview, he talks about personal contacts and international influences on his work.
Artists:
Klaus Killisch
Sabine Herrmann
Mikael Eriksson
Susanne Rast
Beata Palucka
Wilfriede Maaß
Swedish artist immerses himself in the art scene in East Berlin in 1988
Periods:
1988
Private Contacts
The Swedish artist Mikael Eriksson seeks encounters with the young artist scene in East Berlin in 1988
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