Between surrealism and politics: An exploration of subversive body arts in 1980s East German underground cinema

Abstract

This article discusses the underground cinema of the German Democratic Republic during the 1980s in regard to its contributions to the arts and the avant-garde. While scholars including Claus Löser and Katrin Frietzsche have contributed greatly to the remembrance of the East German underground cinema, its influences have been disregarded by film studies, not least within the anglophone field. As a result, little to no research has been conducted regarding its contributions to the avant-garde or through the scope of other art movements as the political aspect continues to be emphasized. This article draws upon multiple art developments such as dada, surrealism, performance and body art as well as Eastern European-specific movements. Therefore, it evaluates how the East German underground interprets those influences and further contributes to them. Significant works by Cornelia Schleime, Gabriele Stötzer, Thomas Frydetzki and Tohm di Roes are subject to analyses to reveal anarchist feminist tendencies and surrealism with anarchist aspects. It concludes that the East German underground must be seen as a contribution to the less-researched necrorealism as an art movement paralleling the constitutional socialist realism. As such, political implications cannot be subtracted altogether but shall rather be viewed alongside the emergence of anarchist surrealism during the Cold War.