Gabriele Stötzer. Der lange Arm der Stasi
Die Kunstszene der 1960er, 1970er und 1980er in Erfurt – ein Bericht
von Gabriele Stötzer, herausgegeben von Anne KönigDie Künstlerin Gabriele Stötzer war das Kraftzentrum des lebendigen Untergrunds in Erfurt. Sie selbst saß nach der Biermann-Ausbürgerung 1976 in Untersuchungshaft und im Frauengefängnis Hoheneck. Ihre einjährige Haft führte aber nicht zum Verstummen. Nach ihrer Freilassung leitete sie eine Untergrundgalerie und gründete eine Künstlerinnengruppe. Am 3. Dezember 1989 besetzte sie als erste gemeinsam mit Gleichgesinnten das Gebäude der Staatssicherheit in Erfurt. Nach über 25 Jahren hat Gabriele Stötzer in den Archiven der Stasi zu ihrer eigenen Vergangenheit und der weiterer 32 Künstlerkollegen geforscht. Sie hat einen sachlichen Bericht über die Formen der Observation geschrieben, der die innere Logik der Überwachungsbehörde freilegt. Originaldokumente aus den Akten sowie Bildmaterial der Observierenden ergänzen ihren Text, der im Rahmen der Ausstellung „Zwischen Ausstieg und Aktion“ in der Kunsthalle Erfurt 2014 entstand.
Gabriele Stötzer (*1953), Fotografin, Autorin, Super-8-Filmerin und Performerin, lebt und arbeitet in Erfurt. Einzelausstellung „Bewusstes Unvermögen – Das Archiv Gabriele Stötzer “, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, 2019.
Artist Gabriele Stötzer was the powerhouse of Erfurt’s lively underground. After Wolf Biermann’s expatriation in 1976, she herself was held on remand and put in the Hoheneck women’s prison. Her one-year imprisonment did not silence her though. After her release, she ran an underground gallery and established a group of female artists. On 3 December 1989, she was the first to occupy the Stasi building in Erfurt together with a collection of like-minded people. More than twenty-five years after the event, Stötzer researched her own past and that of thirty-two fellow artists as recorded in the Stasi archives. She has written a factual report on the forms of observation that were used, exposing the internal logic of the surveillance regime. Her text—which was written for the exhibition Between Withdrawal and Action at the Kunsthalle Erfurt in 2014—is supplemented by original documents from the files and visual material produced by surveillance operatives.
Gabriele Stötzer (b. 1953), photographer, author, Super 8 film-maker, and performer, lives and works in Erfurt. Her solo exhibition Bewusstes Unvermögen: Das Archiv Gabriele Stötzer is showing at the Leipzig Museum of Contemporary Art (GfZK) in 2019.
Gabriele Stötzer (*1953), Fotografin, Autorin, Super-8-Filmerin und Performerin, lebt und arbeitet in Erfurt. Einzelausstellung „Bewusstes Unvermögen – Das Archiv Gabriele Stötzer “, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, 2019.
Artist Gabriele Stötzer was the powerhouse of Erfurt’s lively underground. After Wolf Biermann’s expatriation in 1976, she herself was held on remand and put in the Hoheneck women’s prison. Her one-year imprisonment did not silence her though. After her release, she ran an underground gallery and established a group of female artists. On 3 December 1989, she was the first to occupy the Stasi building in Erfurt together with a collection of like-minded people. More than twenty-five years after the event, Stötzer researched her own past and that of thirty-two fellow artists as recorded in the Stasi archives. She has written a factual report on the forms of observation that were used, exposing the internal logic of the surveillance regime. Her text—which was written for the exhibition Between Withdrawal and Action at the Kunsthalle Erfurt in 2014—is supplemented by original documents from the files and visual material produced by surveillance operatives.
Gabriele Stötzer (b. 1953), photographer, author, Super 8 film-maker, and performer, lives and works in Erfurt. Her solo exhibition Bewusstes Unvermögen: Das Archiv Gabriele Stötzer is showing at the Leipzig Museum of Contemporary Art (GfZK) in 2019.