Without us!

Without us! examined the defiant "alternative" culture of the GDR. It focused on the artists and their works that were produced in or refer to Dresden - a city which was known for its independent art scene. An exhibition, lectures, workshops, video and film presentations and discussion events offered examples of the forms of artistic retreat and action that created an alternative, non-conformist culture within the socialistic state.
In the 1980s groups like the Autoperforationsartisten (Micha Brendel, Else Gabriel, Via Lewandowsky, Rainer Görß) attracted a great deal of attention to Dresden's counter-culture. In performances, installations and process art, they integrated organic material or used their own bodies to express their rejection of the East German art industry.
The history of non-conformist art began in the formative years of the GDR and continued after 1989, for example, in Cornelia Schleime's works from 1993 that deal with her own Stasi files. Not with us! also presented contemporary works by younger artists that refer to this alternative culture in the GDR or, looking back at the GDR, investigate the artist's relationship to society and its institutions.

Curators: Frank Eckhardt and Paul Kaiser
Writers: Susanne Altmann, Frank Eckhardt, Eckhart Gillen, Paul Kaiser, Ralf Kerbach, Gwendolin Kremer, Rolf Lindner, Klaus Michael, Karl-Siegbert Rehberg, Cornelia Schleime, Angelika Weißbach
Artists: David Adam, Peter Bauer, Jürgen Bötcher / Strawalde, Micha Brendel, Jan Brokof, David Buob, Stefanie Busch, Lutz Dammbeck, Else Gabriel, Rainer Görß, Eberhard Göschel, Peter Graf, Angela Hampel, Günter Hornig, Petra Kasten, Martin Krenn, Thomas Kupsch, Helge Leiberg, Via Lewandowsky, Rupprecht Matthies, Antje Schiffers, Wolfgang Smy, Florian Zeyfang and others

Venue and schedule:
Exhibition, lectures and workshops: 23 September 2009 - 17 January 2010
Symposium: 12 - 14 November 2009
Conference: 18 - 22 November 2009
Congress: 14 - 16 January 2010