Bringing together artists from East and West: The graphic editions of the EP Gallery
Private galleries operating in residential spaces, of which the EP Gallery in Berlin was one of the most important, opened up platforms not only for the presentation of art which could not be shown in state-run institutions, but served also as information centers on contemporary art. In lectures, slide presentations, and discussions, artistic approaches were mediated to the public and opened up for reflections. The contacts to artists and critics from West Germany as well as from Eastern European countries increasingly enabled to introduce international art and to provide the public with information on contemporary tendencies.
Born in Dresden, Jürgen Schweinebraden had been on friendly terms with the artists Ralf Winkler (AR Penck), Jürgen Böttcher (Strawalde), Peter Hermann and Peter Graf since the 1950s. In 1970 Schweinebraden moved to Prenzlauer Berg in East Berlin. In a 40 square meter room, which was officially used by his girlfriend for giving guitar lessons, he subsequently developed the EP gallery (EP stood for Einzig Private, Exclusively Private). In retrospect, Schweinebraden summed up: “It all started out in a modest, friendly kind of way: at last, we could hang several of Penck’s paintings together in one room, like a gallery”.[1] At the opening of the first exhibition in the late summer of 1973, the famous GDR-singer Wolf Biermann and Eva-Maria Hagen performed. At this point in time, there was no intention of starting up an undertaking of a permanent or commercial nature.
With the opening of the private gallery in the following year, Schweinebraden pursued the goal of “promoting communication among artists in the GDR and opening up possibilities for artists with limited or no possibilities of exhibiting their work.”[2] Due to Schweinebraden’s contacts with employees of the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany and his collaboration with Klaus Werner at the Arkade Gallery in East Berlin, a network between East and West developed, continually expanding from 1975 onwards.
Schweinebraden deserves special credit for showing art from both sides of the Iron Curtain. In addition to his exhibitions, he also brought together art from both sides of the border by publishing graphic portfolio editions. After the first portfolio editions of GDR artists (including A.R. Penck and Carlfriedrich Claus) had been published in 1976, Schweinebraden decided to initiate two graphic portfolio editions in which East and West German artists were to be represented together. This was part of his mission to make contemporary international art known in the GDR and to bring about an exchange between artists from East and West. The two editions published in 1978 included works by Georg Baselitz, Bernhard Johannes Blume, Ludwig Gosewitz, Antonio Höckelmann, Alfonso Hüppi, Thomas Kaminsky, Dietmar Kirves, Rune Mields, C.O. Paeffgen, A.R. Penck, Aen Sauerborn, Tomas Schmit, Klaus Steinmann and Günter Uecker. He produced portfolios in an edition of 40 to 50 pieces, in 32 x 29 cm size. There were no restrictions on the production process, so a wide range of different techniques emerged, such as etching, wood or linocut, lithography, screen printing, drawing, frottage and offset. The edition was accompanied by texts by Schweinebraden and biographical information on the individual participants, which were reproduced using blueprint process, also often employed for samizdat publications.
By 1980, a total of 12 graphic portfolio editions were published, in which 34 artists from 15 countries (GDR, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Romania, Sweden, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, USA, the Netherlands, Argentina and UK) had contributed. This shows the wide range of the Schweinebraden network. By publishing the graphic portfolio editions, the gallery owner succeeded in bringing together artists who were actually separated by opposing political systems.[3]
Schweinebraden was also able to show an exhibition by the French Fluxus artist Robert Filliou in 1975, which had previously been shown at the Akademie der Künste in West Berlin, as well as works by other Western artists such as that of the West German photographer duo Bernd and Hilla Becher (1978). Schweinebraden was not only interested in bringing art from the West to East Berlin, his gallery also showed works by Eastern European contemporary artists that were largely ignored in the GDR, such as a performance by the Prague artist Petr Stembera in 1976 (it has been one of the first performances shown in the GDR) or an exhibition of works by the Polish conceptual artist Roman Opalka in the same year. There were a total of 70 exhibitions and around 40 events in the EP Gallery, including readings, concerts, theater evenings and performances.
Despite various operational dismantling measures by the Ministry for State Security (MfS), the EP gallery was able to operate for a period of five years and developed into a constant within the alternative art scene. Schweinebraden was committed to “showing forms and contents that are oriented primarily on originality and artistic quality, while international values and standards coming second.”[4]
With his gallery, Schweinebraden wanted to offer a space to address social issues, which is why he sought to establish a dialogue with both the artists as well as the public. His aim was to bring to light areas of social tension and open them up for discussion. New usage concepts for the gallery space were also used for this purpose, with which the traditional presentation and reception framework of a gallery was expanded. For example, slide shows were given by the exhibiting artists. In this way, the EP gallery became an exchange and information space for alternative contemporary art. Through exhibitions, lectures and performances, the EP gallery was able to disseminate artistic positions in the GDR that could not be found in official state galleries or were expressly undesirable. With this in mind, the portfolio editions in particular were an essential tool used by Jürgen Schweinebraden to spread artistic positions within the country that otherwise could not be seen.
Sources:
Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (ed.). “Jetzt ist man verblüfft, wie gefährlich denen das erschien: Jürgen Schweinebraden im Gespräch mit Claus Löser.” 2009. https://www.bpb.de/mediathek/154809/jetzt-ist-man-verbluefft-wie-gefaehrlich-denen-das-erschien-
Gillen, Eckhart and Rainer Haarmann (ed.). Kunst in der DDR: Künstler, Galerien,
Museen, Kulturpolitik, Adressen. Köln: 1990.
Grundmann, Uta. Die EP Galerie Jürgen Schweinebraden. In Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung: Autonome Kunst in der DDR (Dossier) https://www.bpb.de/geschichte/deutsche-geschichte/autonome-kunst-in-der-ddr/55803/ep-galerie-schweinebraden.
Kaiser, Paul and Claudia Petzold (ed.). Boheme und Diktatur in der DDR: Gruppen, Konflikte, Quartiere, 1970-1989. Katalog zur Ausstellung des Deutschen Historischen Museums vom 4. September bis 16. Dezember 1997. Berlin: Fannei & Walz, 1997.
Schweinebraden, Jürgen. “Austellungen.” Accessed February 14, 2021. http://www.ep-verlag-schweinebraden.de/ausstellungen.htm
[1] Jürgen Schweinebraden, Nebel am Horizont: Die Gegenwart der Vergangenheit, vol. 2, (Niedenstein: EP Edition, 1998), 58.
[2] Jürgen Schweinebraden, Blick zurück im Zorn?: Die Gegenwart der Vergangenheit, vol. 1, (Niedenstein: EP Edition, 1998), 52.
[3] Uta Grundmann: Die EP Galerie Jürgen Schweinebraden, in: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung: Autonome Kunst in der DDR (Dossier). https://www.bpb.de/geschichte/deutsche-geschichte/autonome-kunst-in-der-ddr/55803/ep-galerie-schweinebraden
[4] Schweinebraden, Nebel am Horizont, 68.
Date: 1978
Participants: Georg Baselitz, Bernhard Johannes Blume, Ludwig Gosewitz, Antonio Höckelmann, Alfonso Hüppi, Thomas Kaminsky, Dietmar Kirves, Rune Mields, C.O. Paeffgen, A. R. Penck, Thomas Ranft, Dagmar Ranft-Schinke, Aen Sauerborn, Tomas Schmit, Klaus Steinmann, Günter Uecker, Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt,
Initiator: Jürgen Schweinebraden
Location: Gallery EP, Berlin