Part of Voices from the interview project “Art in Networks”
Prof. Kerstin Schankweiler (TU Dresden) speaks with artists Abed Abdi (*1942) and Michael Touma (*1956) about their time as international students at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, the influence on their art, and the continuity and impact of networks beyond the time of the German Democratic Republic and national borders. Palestinian artist Abed Abdi studied in Dresden from 1964 to 1971, while Israeli-born Michael Touma studied there from 1975 to 1976 before continuing his education at the Berlin-Weißensee and Leipzig art academies.
The conversation takes place as part of the current exhibition “Revolutionary Romances? Global Art Histories in the GDR” at the Albertinum – as a “laboratory” within the “Counterpoints” project funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation of Germany at the State Art Collections Dresden.
“Art in Networks – The GDR and its Global Relations” is a digital research platform initiated by Kerstin Schankweiler at TU Dresden focusing on the international contacts of the German Democratic Republic in the arts: www.artinnetworks.webspace.tu-dresden.de. The project sheds light on the connections between artists, museums, and other cultural actors between the GDR and countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, tracing the resulting global networks through individual case studies.
Admission to the discussion is free; however, a museum ticket is required for exhibition visits.
curators: Hilke Wagner, Mathias Wagner, Tanja Schomaker, and Kerstin Schankweiler
State Art Collections Dresden Albertinum Directorate Tzschirnerplatz 2 ∙ 01067 Dresden T +49 (0)351 4914 9731 albertinum@skd.museum
