Revolutionary Romances? Global Art Histories in the GDR

In 2024, the Archive and the Art Collection supported the exhibition “Revolutionary Romances?” with several loans from the university’s collections. The works and documents made available for the exhibition complemented its presentation and contributed to illuminating the political, cultural and artistic relations between the GDR and countries of the Global South from a variety of perspectives.

The exhibition explored this previously little-researched chapter within the context of global art history. Drawing on works and documents from the 1950s to the 1990s, it addressed topics such as international solidarity, cultural exchange and artistic responses to political developments in Asia, Africa and Latin America. At the same time, the exhibition encouraged a critical reflection on the notions of international solidarity promoted in the GDR, examining the tensions between ideological aspirations and social reality as well as questions surrounding Eurocentric perspectives and stereotypical representations.

The loans from the HfBK Dresden’s collections also highlighted the university’s particular historical connection to this subject. During the GDR era, numerous students from countries of the Global South studied at the university or spent several months at the HfBK Dresden as part of scholarship and exchange programmes. While some completed their full artistic education here, others used their temporary stay for further artistic training and professional exchange. Their biographies and artistic work are therefore part of the history of the HfBK Dresden and, at the same time, bear witness to the international artistic and cultural exchange of this period.