Gabriele Stötzer was born in Emleben, East Germany, in 1953.

In the mid-1970s, she studied at a teacher training college in Erfurt, but was expelled for political reasons. Her further opposition activity earned her a one-year prison sentence. After being released, she became involved in art, running a gallery and creating her own works, which included not only photography, film, painting and performance, but also textiles, ceramics, created objects, art books and costumes. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Stötzer co-initiated the first occupation of the Stasi (Ministry for State Security of the GDR) headquarters in Erfurt in order to prevent its files from being destroyed. After the political transformation, she continued her artistic work, participated in exhibitions and published eight books. The artist lives and works in Erfurt, teaching university seminars in Performance and delivering lectures on Feminist Art and Being a Contemporary Witness. In 2013, she was awarded the Federal Republic of Germany’s Order of Merit for her social and political activities.

During her studies, Stötzer was an active resistance fighter. For drawing up a petition in defense of a fellow student who had been expelled from university, she was removed from the student roster. Afterwards, she was sentenced to forced labour. On the wave of protests about the revocation of Wolf Biermann’s citizenship, the artist decided to draft a petition for the singer’s release and transport it by train, but was caught by the Stasi. The authorities classified her act as insult to the state and sentenced her to a year in prison. From the end of her detention until the political changes in 1989, Stötzer was under constant surveillance by the Stasi, who collected material on her activities. Her private life and creative activity were under surveillance, she faced provocations and in 1981 the independent gallery Im Flur [In the corridor], which the artist ran, was ordered to shut down.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Stötzer concentrated on her own artistic work. She did not limit herself to a single medium. In addition to a novel about her experience in prison, she wrote short stories and poetry. After taking series of photographs, Stötzer used to arrange them on boards designed by herself. Sometimes she designed art books from these series of works. She often used single photographs as postcards, later sent to friends. The artist was involved in collective and participatory activities. She collaborated with other artists in performances, photographs and films with a Super 8 mm camera. Together with female artists living in Erfurt, they founded the art group EXTERRA XX in 1984. Apart from Stötzer, the group included Monika Andres, Gabriele Göbel, Ina Heiner, Angelika Hummel, Birgit Quehl, Claudia Bogenhardt, Tely Büchner, Monique Förster, Harriet Wollert and Verena Kyselka. As the artist says, her time in prison taught her the importance of female solidarity and cooperation, which is why she was so keen to initiate the formation of new groups of female artists. Spontaneous group performances and public actions were often recorded, but the artists made films based on pre-prepared scenarios as well. Gabriele Stötzer was also associated with the East German punk subculture and the squatting scene. Together with its members, she ran an underground publishing house and then involved them in her own artistic projects.

Gabriele’s work, like that of many female artists in the former GDR, has only just begun to be discovered in recent years. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions such as: re:act feminism, Academy of Fine Arts, Berlin (2008); Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in Eastern Europe, MUMOK – Museum of Modern Art, Vienna (2009), Zachęta – National Gallery of Art (2010), Warsaw; Voices of Dissent: Art on the GDR 1976-1989, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin (2016); 100 Ways of Thinking, Kunsthalle, Zurich (2018) and in the solo exhibition Conscious Inability: The Archive of Gabriele Stötzer, GfZK, Leipzig. The artist’s films were presented as part of the Trashing Performance programme, Tate Modern, London (2011) and at the 70. Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival (2020).

 

Selected solo exhibitions:

2023

Die Austreibung aus dem Paradies, Galerie Gisela Clement, Bonn, DE

Body Gestures and Bodily Signs. Photography, Galerie Pankow, Berlin, DE

2022

Symbole des Ungesagten, 1RWW Project Space, LOOCK Galerie, Berlin, DE

2021

I come from a country that no longer exists, Galeria Monopol, Warsaw, PL

Verführung, LOOCK Galerie, Berlin

2019

Conscious Inability. The Gabriele Stötzer Archive, GfZK, Leipzig, DE

2017

Das Brennen der Worte im Mund,  KTR Galerie, Leipzig, DE

2013

Schwingungskurve Leben, Klassik Stiftung, Weimar, DE

1993

Form in Form, Erfurt, DE

1988

Wörtherstraße, Berlin, DE

1984

Kürschnergasse, Erfurt, DE

 

Selected group exhibitions:

2024

Outrageously Rebellious, Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Magdeburg, DE

Prologue to the 10th f/stop — Festival for Photography Leipzig, D21 Kunstraum, Leipzig, DE

Soft Power, DAS MINKS Kunsthaus in Potsdam, DE

Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation, Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, US

Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s, Phoenix Art Museum, USA; Vancouver Art Gallery, CA

2023

Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

The Sixties Experiment, Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, US

2022

herzwärts wild. Umbrüche 1982–97 Künstlerinnen aus der DDR, Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst, Cottbus, DE

Restless Bodies. East German Photography 1980–1989, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius, LT

Zerbrechlich! Ton, Scheibe, Bild: Künstlerkeramik, Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst, Cottbus, DE

Anti-Social Art: Experimental Practices in Late East Germany, Tweed Museum, Minnesota, US

2021

Stich für Stich. Faden um Faden. Textile Bild/Räume, BLMK, Cottbus, DE

Maximal radikal. Textile Objekte, Filme und Performances aus Ost und West von 1970 bis heute, BLMK, Cottbus, DE

Feministische Avantgarde aus der Sammlung Verbund, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, DE

Entgrenzungen – Von öffentlichen und privaten Sphären, Kallmann–Museum, Ismaning, DE

2020

Work and Continuation (Werk und Fortsetzung), Galerie Eigenheim, Berlin, DE

Poetry & Performance. The Eastern Europe Perspecitve, Contemporary Museum, Wrocław, PL

2019

Bewußtes Unvermögen – Das Archiv Gabriele Stötzer, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, DE

Artists & Agents. Performance Art and Secret Services, HMKV, Dortmund, DE

From Far Away. Images of the GDR, Museum Villa Stuck, Monachium, DE

Fotograf Festival X. Uneven Ground, Fotograf Gallery, Prague, CZ

Die schaffende Galatea. Frauen sehen Frauen, Kunsthalle Talstraße, Halle, DE

Restless Bodies. East German Photography 1980–1989, Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, FR

Present Tense 2019: Task of Remembrance, Chinese Culture Center Visual Art Center, San Francisco, USA

Poetry & Performance, Motorenhalle Dresden, Dresden, DE

Palast der Republik. 1989/2019. Come Together, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Berlin, DE

2018

The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain, The Wende Museum, Culver City, California, US

The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, DE

Anti-Image (Gegenbilder), Gropius Bau, Berlin, DE

Deutschland, Galeria Eigenheim, Weimar, DE

Hinter dem Spiegel (Po drugiej stronie lustra), BWA Zielona Góra, PL (works from collection of BLMK, Cottbus, DE

Poetry & Performance, Verein Shedhalle, Zurich, CH

100 Ways of Thinking, Kunsthalle, Zurich, CH

Curators Choice, Galerie Springer, Berlin, DE

Traumwelten, Kunsthalle Thalstraße, Halle, DE

Feminismus und Klassenbewußtsein, Sprechsaal, Berlin, DE

Underground Improvisation, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, DE

Left performance history, nGbK, Berlin, DE

Gerissene Fäden, BLMK —Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst, Cottbus, DE

2017

Das Brennen der Worte im Mund, Galerie Kunstraum KTR, Leipzig, DE

Zwischen Ausstieg und Aktion. Die Erfurter Subkultur der 1960er, 1970er und 1980er Jahre, Kunsthalle Erfurt, DE

The Present Order, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, DE

 A Sort of Sound — Klang in der Bildenden Kunst, Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar, DE

Handlungsanweisungen in der Kunst, Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar, DE

2016

Gegenstimmen. Kunst in der DDR 1976–1989, Gropius Bau, Berlin, DE

2015

Das Glücksprinzip, Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar, DE

2014

Re:bellion Re:ligion Re:form — Künstler agieren im Umbruch, The Kunstsammlungen Zwickau, Max Pechstein Museum, Zwickau, DE

So nah… weit fern. Bilder aus der Hafterfahrung, Gedenk und Bildungsstätte Andreasstraße, Erfurt, DE

2013

Schwingungskurve Leben, Schiller-Museum, Weimar, DE

Zwischen Ausstieg und Aktion. Die Erfurter Subkultur der 1960er, 1970er und 1980er Jahre, Kunsthalle, Erfurt, DE

Re.act.feminism, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, DE

2012

Abschied von Ikarus. Bildwelten in der DDR – neu gesehen, Neues Museum, Weimar, DE

Re.act.feminism, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, ES; Tallinna Kunstihoone, Tallinn, EE; Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde, DK; Galerija Miroslav Kraljević, Zagreb, HR; Instytut Sztuki Wyspa, Gdańsk, PL

2011

Trashing Performance, Tate Modern, London, UK

Entdeckt! Rebellische Künstlerinnen in der DDR Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, DE

2010

PUZZLE: Die Sammlungsausstellung 2010, GfZK, Leipzig, DE

2009

Subversive Praktiken. Kunst unter Bedingungen politischer Repression. 60er–80er / Südamerika / Europa, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, DE

Gender Check, mumok — Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, AU

Ohne Uns! Kunst und alternative Kultur in Dresden — vor und nach ´89, Motorenhalle, Dresden, DE

2008

Feind ist, wer anders denkt, Staatssicherheit, Hamburg, DE

Re.act.feminism, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, DE

2006

Literarische Gegenwelten, Literaturhaus, Berlin, DE

In Zügelloser Sprache, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Berlin, DE

Gefährliche Machwerke, Thüringer Landtag, Erfurt, DE

2005

ostPunk! – too much future, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE

Engel, Andreaskirche, Erfurt, DE

2004

Engel, Winkelcentrum NOVA, Utrecht, DE

2003

Lieber zu viel als zu wenig. Kunst, Musik, Aktionen zwischen Hedonismus und Nihilismus [1976–1985], nGbK, Berlin, DE

Göttinnen, Nieler Schule, Kranenburg, DE

2001

Todesmaske von Engeln getragen, Kunsthaus, Erfurt, DE

2000

Eros & Chaos, Galeria Alex 18, Düsseldorf, DE

Apokalyptische Visionen, Stadtbibliothek, Zeitz, DE

1999

Innensichten: Kunst in Thüringen, Gera Art Collection (Kunstsammlung Gera), Gera, DE

Art is ego, Das Labyrinth, Erfurt, DE

1998

Politeia. Deutsche Geschichte nach 1945 aus Frauensicht, Bonn Women’s Museum (Frauenmuseum), Bonn, DE

Boheme und Diktatur in der DDR, Historisches Museum, Berlin, DE

Deutschlandbilder: Kunst aus einem geteilten Land, Gropius Bau, Berlin, DE

1997

12. Kunstmesse, Frauenmuseum, Bonn, DE

1996

Unikum unikat, Kunsthaus, Erfurt, DE

1995

Keramish Atelier, Utrecht, NL

1992

Kunsthaus, Erfurt, DE

1991

Atlantis — Irgendeine Vergangenheit, Galerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, DE

Atlantis, Ballhaus im Nordpark, Düsseldorf, DE

Treibholz, Rathaus, Mainz, DE

1990

Jojo Klubhaus, Berlin, DE

Jugendklub Apotheke, Chemnitz, DE

Literaturclub, Berlin, DE

La Vilette, Paris, FR

1989

Galerie Nord, Leipzig, DE

1988

St. Augustine’s Monastery, Erfurt, DE

1984

Künstler Fotografieren, Fotografierte Künstler, Galerie Mitte, Dresden, DE