Touring Feminist Realism in Actually Existing Socialism: The Exhibitions and Travels of Danish Artist Dea Trier Mørch across the Iron Curtain, 1962–1989

Abstract

Dea Trier Mørch (1941–2001) was a popular – and recently rediscovered – artist often associated with feminism and the formative years of the Danish Women’s Rights movement. Throughout her career, she worked and exhibited frequently in the Eastern Bloc countries, but the details of these activities and the reception of her work in this context is still a little known aspect of her life and work. The article will analyse the case of Trier Mørch as a Danish artist exhibiting in the communist bloc countries. From attending art academies in the 1960s (mainly in Poland and the USSR) to taking part of exhibitions both individually and as part of artist collective Røde Mor such as Biennale der Ostseeländer in Rostock and Intergrafik in East Berlin, the activities of Trier Mørch show encounters and interactions with the other art world of state socialism at various levels, such as conflicts and paradoxes, including on the issue of feminism and women’s rights in the different systems. Following an individual through larger structures like international exchanges and art diplomacy will also shed fresh light on the developments in international cultural relations in the Nordic-Baltic region and provide context for the artist’s commitment and positioning through a formative period in contemporary history.