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An artist exchange between Bitterfeld and Tajikistan

Topic: Travels
Periods:
  • 1975
Artists:
  • Christine Stäps
  • Christian Heinze
  • Erhard Großmann
In a written interview, the artist Christine Stäps describes impressions of her trip to Tajikistan in 1975.

The painter, graphic artist and sculptor Christine Stäps (born 1940) moved to Schwerin in 1967 after studying painting and graphics at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden; today she lives in Grambow, near Schwerin.
In 1975, together with the artists Christian Heinze and Erhard Großmann, she took part in an artist exchange between the GDR and Tajikistan organized by the Verband Bildender Künstler (VBK), which included stops in Bitterfeld and Tajikistan. For Christine Stäps, the trip was formative in the coming creative years and at the same time brought her the realization that she felt no need for further travel.

  • You were part of an art exchange between the GDR and Tajikistan in 1975. Christian Heinze, Erhard Großmann and you met two artists from Tajikistan. How did you come to participate in this exchange?
    The VBK of the GDR was organized through districts and I received the invitation through the VBK Schwerin.
  • The project also included a stay in Bitterfeld. Do you still have memories of that time?
    I have hardly any memories of Bitterfeld. This industrial landscape was not my world. Strict safety measures had to be observed. The workers were very open to us.
  • In addition, the exchange included a trip to Tajikistan. What was the course of the trip?
    The time of the stay was 3 weeks. The flight from Berlin to Moscow stopped for 2 days to visit the Tretyakov Gallery. Then we flew to Dushanbe with the translator and two colleagues. From there by minibus to Nurek.
  • The trip was also intended to support the artistic work. Did the stay in Tajikistan have a lasting influence on your artistic work?
    This trip served primarily for artistic work and my knowledge expansion (education). It was an intensive study of nature (human-nature) in this for me different cultural world. It began the way to myself.
  • There are still numerous paintings in which you deal with the country and its people in terms of motifs. Works such as Teetrinker in Kulab were created as early as 1975, others such as Hirte mit Herde as late as 1977. How did you artistically process the artistic impressions on site and also after your return?
    Working in front of nature is " taking in and bringing inwards". Seen and experienced things need time to mature and then appear visibly in watercolor, graphics and paintings. (It is my way.) About two years I was busy with it.
Christine Stäps, Teetrinker in Kulab, ink on paper, 1975. Photo: Art in Networks
  • Did you meet other artists on site, how was the contact with the local people?
    We lived in a small "hotel" that had been created with the dam project. On site, the encounter with the people was a lasting experience. Tajik belongs to the Indo-European language group and therefore there were numerous contacts with schoolchildren.
  • What is your most beautiful memory of the trip to Tajikistan?
    The mountains and the meadows with red-blossoming wild tulips, crocuses and giant snowdrops were impressive.
Christine Stäps, Hirte mit Herde, lithography, 1977. Photo: Art in Networks

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  • Femmes-artistes de la R.D.A. - Paris 1986
    Periods:
    • 1986/03/12–1986/04/23
    Exhibitions
    In 1986, Christine Stäps (b. 1940) traveled to Paris with artist Ellen Fuhr (1958-2017) to oversee the exhibition Femmes-artistes de la R.D.A. From March 12 to April 23, 1986, works by 19 women artists, including Stäps and Fuhr, were presented at the Centre Culturel de la République Démocratique Allemande.
    Artists:
    • Christine Stäps
    • Ellen Fuhr
    • Heidrun Hegewald
    • Angela Hampel
    • Helga Paris
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