Angelika Richter's 'The Law of the Underground' Revisits GDR Performance Art and Gender Critique
Angelika Richter's doctoral dissertation from 2019, titled *The Law of the Underground*, investigates the contributions of East German female artists navigating a realm outside mainstream state narratives. Published by Transcript-Verlag, the thesis is structured into three main sections: gender issues in socialism, intersections of art and gender, and alternative gender representations. The study critiques state policies on emancipation and highlights the historical significance of institutions like the Center for Interdisciplinary Women's Studies, established in 1989. Richter emphasizes various GDR artists and posits that the region's care system was superior to that of post-reunification Germany, placing this artistic movement in a wider European perspective.
Key facts
- Angelika Richter published 'The Law of the Underground' in 2019 with Transcript-Verlag.
- The book examines East German female performance artists in the 'second public sphere.'
- Richter identifies a 'patriarchy in private' within underground groups.
- The GDR constitution guaranteed legal equality for women in 1949.
- Women faced a 'double burden' of work and domestic duties despite high employment.
- Case studies include Karla Woisnitza, Gabriele Stötzer, Heike Stephan, Cornelia Schleime, and Yana Milev.
- Stötzer's 'Mackenbuch' features crossdressers challenging gender norms.
- The Center for Interdisciplinary Women's Studies at Humboldt University was founded in 1989.
- Richter compares GDR performances to those of Polish artist Ewa Partum.
- The book argues GDR care infrastructure was more developed than in reunified Germany.
Entities
Artists
- Angelika Richter
- Karla Woisnitza
- Gabriele Stötzer
- Heike Stephan
- Cornelia Schleime
- Yana Milev
- Ewa Partum
- Judith Butler
- Walter Benjamin
- Michel Foucault
- Constanze Fritzsch
Institutions
- Transcript-Verlag
- Humboldt University
- Center for Interdisciplinary Women's Studies
- Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies
- Gallery of Contemporary Art in Leipzig
- Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence
- Getty Research Institute
- Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung
- German Forum for Art History in Paris
- Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
- Bauhaus University in Weimar
- Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden
- University of Leipzig
- Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art
- Catholic University in Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
- University Paris Nanterre
- University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
- ENS de Paris
- ARTMargins Online
Locations
- Bielefeld
- Germany
- East Germany
- GDR
- Erfurt
- Leipzig
- Berlin
- Humboldt University in Berlin
- Florence
- Prague
- Warsaw
- Chemnitz
- Paris
- Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
- Weimar
- Dresden
- Bavaria
- Poland
- Eastern Europe
- Central Europe
- Southeastern Europe
- West Germany
- United States