Gabrielle Estocher: Being Together and Not Talking

About the Exhibition

This exhibition shows the overall artistic achievement of Gabriele Stötzer, who has explored identity, rights, and gender issues through art since being detained by the East German regime in 1976. Titled 'Dabei sein und nicht schweigen' (Being present and not staying silent), the exhibition shows that her art became a site of social resistance and feminist self-assertion centered on women. It includes about 150 works she has made over more than 50 years, spanning painting, literature, photography, textile art, Super 8 film, performance, and public intervention. The exhibition presents Stötzer's exploration of artistic boundaries and courageous self-expression as a way of overcoming state repression and control. Visitors can directly sense her self-exploration and spirit of resistance especially through the 1983 work 'Die Auslöschung eines Blicks – Ich trage meine Wunden heute offen' (Erasing a gaze – Today I carry my wounds openly).