Intervention on the GDR Art Collection – A Student Research Project at the Humboldt Labor

In October 2024, the pop-up exhibition “Erziehung, Auftragskunst, ästhetischer Wille? Der DDR-Kunstbestand an der Humboldt-Universität” (Education, Commissioned Art, Aesthetic Will? The GDR Art Collection at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) was held in the seminar room of the Humboldt Labor in cooperation with the Custody of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. This not only strengthened the collaboration between the Humboldt Labor and the Custody, but also created a space for presenting a student research project and, with it, a rarely shown part of the university collection.

The Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin holds a rich collection of valuable art treasures dating from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. The collection also includes numerous objects from the period of the GDR, on whose territory the university was located from 1949 to 1990. It comprises works by well-known artists, some of whom taught at HU, as well as works by unknown amateur artists; a diverse group of objects created as commissions, acquisitions or donations. Their motifs and collection histories reflect the close relationship between science and politics in the GDR, as well as its ideological worldview. At the same time, the works testify, in both technique and aesthetics, to the richness of artistic production in the GDR. The collection is also made particularly compelling by the close connection between art and art education, as well as by the amateur artistic practice that was intensively cultivated at the university.

In the summer semester of 2024, students from the Institute for Library and Information Science worked with artworks from the GDR period as part of a seminar organised by the Custody/Art Collection. In archives and in conversations with experts, they researched the histories of individual objects, engaged with the architectural history of HU and investigated art education at the university.

While the seminar, led by Christina Kuhli from the Custody/Art Collection and Maria Gäde from the Institute for Library and Information Science, focused on compiling materials, researching narratives relating to the objects and writing texts, preparations for the exhibition took place towards the end of the semester and during the semester break. From 14 to 27 October 2024, the results of the student research project were finally presented in the seminar room of the Humboldt Labor. To this end, the modular room furnishings were adapted so that the exhibits assembled by the students could be shown in an atmosphere reminiscent of a museum. In addition to the generous wall space, the specially developed graphic design for the exhibition, as well as the professional framing and hanging of the individual objects, contributed to this effect.

The intervention “ Erziehung, Auftragskunst, ästhetischer Wille? Der DDR-Kunstbestand an der Humboldt-Universität” presented numerous original objects and several reproductions. These included commissioned works such as portraits of the Humboldt brothers; works inspired by socialist thought, such as Heinrich Tessmer’s triptych “Stationen”; a mural from the early phase of the GDR that came to light a few years ago behind wooden panelling; and student works from the field of art education dating from the 1960s to the 1980s.

With this intervention, the Humboldt Labor pursued its aim of making student projects visible alongside the exhibition of science and the discussion of scientific knowledge, thereby identifying them as an important part of university life. At the same time, the project between the Custody and the Humboldt Labor reflects the collaboration between two areas based at the Zentrum für Kulturtechnik.