Escape and Escapism – Art and the GDR

Sat 15 November 2025

The Robert Cripps Auditorium

Programme

10.00 am: Introduction and Welcome
Silke Mentchen, University of Cambridge and co-curator of Escape from Colditz

10.15 am: Two Who Escaped: Georg Baselitz and A R Penck
Richard Calvocoressi, Magdalene College, University of Cambridge.

10.45 am: The DDR in the Humboldt Forum: Wolfgang Mattheuer’s painting Guten Tag
Neil MacGregor, Former Director, British Museum (London) and Humboldt Forum (Berlin)

11.15 am: Break for lunch (own arrangements) and visit to the exhibition

1.30 pm – Christa Wolf’s Juninachmittag
Georgina Paul, University of Oxford

2.00 pm: Escape to Rabbit land – Escape and Inner Emigration in GDR and (post) GDR Photography
Matthew Shaul, Queen Mary University of London and co-curator Escape from Colditz

2.30 pm: Break

3.00 pm: Cybernetics and Simulacra: Remediating Halle-Neustadt Public Art
Stephan Ehrig, University of Glasgow

3.30 pm: Was Bleibt? The Politics of East German Dance
Marion Kant, University of Cambridge

4.00–5.00 pm: Final Discussion

Please note that this is a public symposium offered free of charge; therefore, participants are asked to make their own lunch and refreshment arrangements.

Cost: Free