15.9.—28.11.’10
SILENT REVOLUTION
Painting and photography from Leipzig

Hans Aichinger, Tilo Baumgärtel, Margret Hoppe, Steffen Junghans, Aris Kalaizis, Sebastian Nebe, Anett Stuth, Stefan Stößel, Miriam Vlaming

The city of Leipzig, located in the federal state of Saxony, an area formerly part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), has risen to become one of the most considerable art centres of Europe since the 1990's. For several years already both international curators and art collectors have shown great interest in the "made in Leipzig" trademark – particularly in the field of painting.

The success of Leipzig can be explained by several factors. One of the most important is certainly the artists' high technical know-how, and the fact that the art of Leipzig seems to be hitting directly the nerve of our time. Also the studio and exhibition centre Spinnerei with its biannual gallery tour, "Rundgang", has heightened the boom.

The main reason for the rise of the art of Leipzig is concentrated around the rich tradition of the Art Academy of Leipzig (Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst) where studies in painting were started in 1961 alongside graphics and photography. Already in the 1970's even the attention of West Germany began to turn towards this eastern city with its technically skilled painters, and the term "Leipzig School" was created. The painters of Leipzig continued the tradition of German New Objectivity, "Neue Sachlichkeit", but the inheritance of Expressionism was taken care of as well.

During the time of the GDR the Art Academy of Leipzig was the most significant place in the whole country for students who intended to study the art of photography. It was also the place where the dominance of the ideological photographic journalism was broken. The photographers of Leipzig began to examine the society with critical eyes and to deal with the gulf between ideology and reality.

The unification of Germany and following contempt felt for the art of the GDR were not able to suppress Leipzig’s artists. The painters continued their narrative and figurative line without hesitation – in spite of the criticism that could be heard even within the Academy itself. A few years passed by in the shade of photography and video art, but at the beginning of the 1990's students who wanted to study painting began to flood from all around Germany to Leipzig.

The reputation of the Art Academy of Leipzig as a Mecca of figurative painting and of efficient art teaching had spread into the west as well. Soon talk about the "New Leipzig School" began. Even though the name has been disputed and called a commercial trademark, it has nevertheless promoted the comet-like rise of Leipzig’s painters. The photography department of the Art Academy operated alertly all the time. In the 1990's the different forms of conceptual photography began to interest people in Leipzig too. One of the central themes was the social breakage that the German unification caused in East Germany.

What is common to the works of the artists apart from the high technical quality is their peculiarly mysterious dreamlike, surreal world in which figures often seem to have become sunk into a strange lethargic idleness. The exhibition Silent Revolution supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation is the first group exhibition of the artists of Leipzig in the Nordic countries. The artists of the exhibition are: painter Hans Aichinger (b. 1959), Tilo Baumgärtel (b. 1972) with his drawings and video installation, photographers Margret Hoppe (b. 1981) and Steffen Junghans (b. 1963), painters Aris Kalaizis (b. 1966) and Sebastian Nebe (b. 1982), photographer Anett Stuth (b. 1965), painters Stefan Stöβel (b. 1970) and Miriam Vlaming (b. 1971).

Ritva Röminger-Czako
Exhibition curator

Further information about the works of art and the history of Leipzig's art can be found in the accompanying publication Hiljainen vallankumous / Silent Revolution, Keravan Taidemuseo, 2010, 136p.

Silent Revolution is the first extensive group exhibition of artists from Leipzig in the Nordic countries. The exhibition has been supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Arts Council of Finland and the Goethe Institute.

Kerava Art Museum
Kumitehtaankatu 5 F
FI-04260 Kerava
FINLAND
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www.keravantaidemuseo.fi

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