Shines a light on the cultural diplomacy of East Germany, the working conditions of contract workers, and the taboo subject of racism.
Though foreign artists from Egypt, Ethiopia, Israel, and Uruguay studied at art schools in the German Democratic Republic, their work is absent from reviews of East German art. Re-Connect remedies this omission, drawing our attention to art created by migrants from the so-called socialist brotherlands, including work by César Olhagaray, Getachew Yossef Hagoss, Michael Touma, and Teresa Casanueva. The volume also recounts the history of immigration and reunification from the perspective of migrants and their descendants.
Art by young people of color with biographical connections to the GDR—such as Philipp Farra, Minh Duc Pham, Alina Simmelbaur, and Sarnt Utamachote—complements this discussion. An insightful look at transnational art created in Germany, the catalog accompanies a 2023 exhibition at the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig.