by Lars Holdgate // Mar. 25, 2026
When the world begins to change in ways that seem difficult to stomach, we tend to step towards the past, looking for sympathy but finding empathy. In the upcoming exhibition, ‘QUEER ART IN THE GDR? Biographies between Underground and Propaganda,’ a certain social and political history is examined through its artists, in such a way that, despite feeling like a different world, wholly connects to our present. The end of the GDR was experienced by featured artists such as Harry Hachmeister, while the likes of Toni Ebel witnessed its beginnings. Different facets of East German identity, whatever that means in our imaginations and imaginaries, come together under umbrellas of individual biographies, posing the same question many people ask themselves today: how and in what ways do socialization systems and politics influence the creation of individuals? How do spaces, whether mainstream or countercultural, shape identities? We spoke to curator Stephan Koal about the exhibition, which opens this week at KVOST, Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge, Mitte Museum and nGbK, and the stories it tells, in many of the places they initially took place.
Andreas Fux: ‘Handelszentrum Friedrichstraße, Berlin,’ 1985, photograph // Courtesy of Andreas Fux and KVOST, Berlin
Lars Holdgate: How do the different locations present different facets of the exhibition’s narrative?
Stephan Koal: The Mitte Museum is a communal museum that focuses on local history. There you’ll get an insight into Jürgen Wittdorf and Andreas Fux’s biographies–both of them had a lot to do with Mitte. Wittdorf used to teach drawing in the Podewil and in the Haus des Lehrers. He used to draw during these lessons and some of the nudes and portraits that came into existence in the 80s and 90s will be on display.
I’ve known Fux’s work for quite a long time, but his work from the 1980s and 90s was new to me. We spent an evening in his archive and found hundreds of previously unseen treasures, of which a selection will be shown for the first time ever in the Mitte Museum.
The Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge exhibition focuses on one artist, Egon Wrobel. He had a long term friendship with Wolfgang Joop, which began in the 1970s. When Joop went to visit family in Potsdam he would see Wrobel. One day, Joop asked if Wrobel would create a jewelry collection of his clay necklaces for his upcoming fashion show in Hamburg, which were then worn on the catwalk in West Germany in the summer of 89. Those are being shown together with the official travel report Wrobel had to write upon returning to the GDR.
All artists will be on show in the nGbK and in KVOST. While in the latter, there is a greater emphasis on creating a dialogue between the works, the nGbK focuses on biographies: letters, photographs from the artists’ private collections, secret police files. This is all placed on a timeline that we work with to create a sense of chronology.
Egon Wrobel: ‘Haustreppe,’ 1976, plattenmontage, 44,5 x 31 x 21,5 cm // Photo by Valentin Wedde, courtesy of Egon Wrobel and KVOST, Berlin
LH: Why is this exhibition (only) happening now?
SK: I ask myself the same question. I wondered whether I’ve overlooked anything. But no, in fact, this is the first exhibition of its kind about queer GDR artists. Queer biographies have received some attention from researchers, but this triad got lost somehow. It made our research quite difficult. You can draw the comparison to West Germany: it’s obvious that they had “Queer Art,” but you didn’t have that in the GDR. It wasn’t possible because of the societal conditions and the political situation. People like to remind you that Paragraph 175, which criminalized same-sex acts, had been repealed back in 1968. That doesn’t mean that being gay or lesbian or trans was accepted. People still faced discrimination and the party wasn’t happy about seeing it either. It’s a strange misinterpretation that circulates.
Jochen Hass: ‘Harlekin auf Seil,’ 1951, öl auf Leinwand, 80 x 62 cm // Photo by Valentin Wedde, courtesy of Privatsammlung and KVOST, Berlin
LH: At the time, were the artists and their works read in the way that you are presenting them?
SK: No, definitely not. There were no exhibition spaces and no one spoke about it either. It all took place behind closed doors. We’re sitting here in front of works by Jochen Hass. He painted most of them while studying in Weimar around 1953/54. He did his thing and the officials said, “Mr Hass, what you’re doing is all well and good but we can’t see the socialist realism in your work. You want to be accepted in the Verband Bildender Künstler but if something doesn’t change, we don’t see it happening.” Hass decided to change careers, retrained and became a conservationist; a job he practiced up until his death. He continued painting but only for himself and his friends, he never received any public attention. Another example is Erika Stürmer-Alex. After finishing her studies, she immediately received a “Berlinverbot” (ban from the city of Berlin), the cheeky thing, and eventually came to establish her own space in the countryside, outside of the city. Her art was able to unfold freely there.
Erika Stürmer-Alex: ‘Russisches Kloster’ (Postkarte), 1982, 15 x 10 cm, paper collage // Courtesy of Erika Stürmer-Alex and KVOST, Berlin
LH: The exhibited artists have varying experiences of the GDR. What (biographical) similarities or differences can be spoken of, if any?
SK: We wanted to show a large spectrum of artists and works. Artists who present different facets of society but also experienced different histories, whether that be the First World War, the Second, the erection of the Wall or its fall. In the GDR, artists were normal workers. They had a role in society. They were commissioned by the state and that’s how they earned their money. Of course, their task was to depict socialism in a nice way, that was their job. Some of them tried to get around that in one way or another, maybe doing something that was a bit more bold, which, on occasion, was tolerated. Other artists began to despair.
Harry Hachmeister: ‘Family Portrait,’ 2024, acrylic behind glass, 36 x 28 cm // Photo by Ludger Paffrath, courtesy of Harry Hachmeister, Galerie Ebensperger und KVOST, Berlin, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
LH: Working with and approaching historical eras and positions from a contemporary standpoint can be challenging. At the same time, that distance can create productive spaces. I’m thinking of the term queer, which you use intentionally. Isn’t there a risk of portraying the past differently to how it “actually” was? How do you view your role as a curator in the overall discourse surrounding historical reflection?
SK: We always make sense of the past from the standpoint of the present and, from the beginning, we made it a priority to engage people who knew a lot more about this subject than we do. Maria Bühner, who has been researching this subject for many years, was one of our first points of contact. The Schwules Museum is an important partner institution. I asked Andreas Sternweiler–one of the museum’s founders and its current curator–do you have any names for me? That’s how I met Jochen Hass. You move from one person to the next, sometimes they are a lead, other times they aren’t. It was exciting.
Queer is a very open and free term. Some of the artists didn’t really know what to do with terms such as lesbian. In the GDR, you wouldn’t have said you were a lesbian. You might have said you’re a feminist but that’s as far as it went. It’s interesting to see how people approach terminology in that way. Queer is a term that most of the artists were able to forge a connection to. We also wanted to appeal to a younger audience, for whom queer is a standard term.
Jürgen Wittdor: ‘Jugend und Sport, Freundschaftsfoto,’ 1964, linocut, 67 x 91,5 cm // Courtesy of Sammlung Schwules Museum und KVOST, Berlin
LH: What happened to artists’ lives, works and legacies after the fall of the Wall?
SK: The fall of the Wall harmed a lot of people. Many existences went down the drain, mainly for financial reasons–there was no more work. The state commissions artists had received up to that point disappeared. Wittdorf, for example, had been giving drawing classes. Those roles all vanished. A lot of biographies went to dust because of it. There are countless legacies that ended up in the rubbish bin of history–it’s catastrophic.
Exhibition Info
KVOST
Group Show: ‘QUEER ART IN THE GDR?’
Opening Reception & Book Launch with Distanz Verlag: Wednesday, Mar. 25; 6–9pm
Exhibition: Mar. 28–June 28, 2026
kvost.de
Leipziger Straße 47, 10117 Berlin, click here for map
Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge
Group Show: ‘QUEER ART IN THE GDR?’
Object Stage with works by Egon Wrobel
Soft opening: Wednesday, Mar. 25; 5-7pm
Exhibition: Mar. 28–June 28, 2026
museumderdinge.org
Leipziger Str. 54, 10117 Berlin, click here for map
Mitte Museum
Andreas Fux & Jürgen Wittdorf: ‘QUEER ART IN THE GDR?’
Soft opening: Thursday, Mar. 26; 6-9pm
Exhibition: Mar. 28–June 28, 2026
mittemuseum.de
Pankstraße 47, 13357 Berlin, click here for map
nGbK
Group Show: ‘QUEER ART IN THE GDR?’
Opening Reception: Friday, Mar. 27; 6-9pm
Exhibition: Mar. 28–June 28, 2026
ngbk.de
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 11/13, 10178 Berlin, click here for map
