East-South Constellations. Transnational Perspectives on Exhibitions of Graphic Art between the GDR and Non-Aligned Countries, 1955–1990

During the Cold War, graphic arts was a politically charged and influential artistic media that facilitated exchange across geopolitical divides and helped to forge links between the Eastern Bloc and the Global South.

This research project explores how graphic art exhibitions contributed to transnational entanglements between the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and non-aligned countries, mostly in the Global South. These East–South constellations brought together cultural-political structures on the side of the German socialist state and artists’ organizations with different political motivations from non-aligned countries. For the GDR, the pursuit of cultural ties to the Global South and alliances between socialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-imperialism were key to diplomatic recognition. Artists, curators, and diplomats from non-aligned countries looked to platform politically engaged art that that lay outside a Western-dominated sphere. Graphic art, particularly in the form of printed works on paper, could facilitate this exchange by virtue of low production costs, reproducibility, and ease of transport.

Research goals

The project charts the complex landscape of Cold War transnational graphic art exhibitions from multiple perspectives. It highlights previously neglected areas such as the role of the GDR in international graphic art exhibitions and the views of artists from Chile, Cuba, India, Tanzania, and other countries – thereby enriching art historical narratives with insight into the politics of collective memory.

Key questions include:

• What specific transnational ties did biennial and triennial graphic art exhibitions create between the GDR and non-aligned states?
• How did institutions and individuals influence, exploit, and reinvent existing connections?

The project identifies the bi- and triennials that were central to forging cultural-political links between the GDR and non-aligned countries. It underscores the central role played by INTERGRAFIK (1965–1990) – the GDR’s international graphic art triennial in East Berlin, as well as graphic art biennials in Cali (first held in 1971), Ljubljana (first held in 1955), Lugano (first held in 1950), New Delhi (first held in 1974), and San Juan (first held in 1970). The project also reveals how the GDR’s participation in the transnational art arena of "anti-imperialist solidarity" was interpreted and shaped differently by artists, curators, activists, and diplomats from diverse international backgrounds. In addition, the project uncovers the neglected careers and exhibition activities of artists from non-aligned countries in the GDR.

Methods and work phases

The research will proceed in two main steps. First, it will reconstruct the exhibition infrastructure for graphic art that underpinned and facilitated exchanges between the GDR and non-aligned countries. Subsequently, it will adopt a transcultural approach to investigate how individual artists engaged with, resisted, or transformed this infrastructure.

Drawing on previously unexamined archival materials and understudied graphic art collections, the project follows three lines of enquiry:

 (1) Exploring graphic art biennials and triennials as contact zones between the GDR and non-aligned countries;

(2) Analyzing INTERGRAFIK as a platform for transnational exchange inside the GDR;

(3) Examining transcultural exchange from the artists’ own perspectives, in conjunction with interviews with living witnesses.

This project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Ambizione, 2025-2029) and hosted at the Department of Art History of University of Zurich.