Zusammen. Lesbische Künstlerinnen in der DDR

In the GDR, there were extremely active and vibrant networks of lesbian-feminist artists. What spaces were they able to create for themselves, and which were denied them? Birgit Bosold and Judith Geffert speak with Nina Weller about artistic practices, collective strategies and forms of self-empowerment among lesbian artists in the GDR.

Birgit Bosold has been a member of the board of Schwules Museum in Berlin (SMU) since 2006. Over the last 20 years, she has contributed decisively to the SMU’s dynamic development with her focus on strategy, programming, finances, and curation, and has (co-)curated countless exhibitions. These include Lesbisches Sehen (Lesbian Seeing, 2018) and, most recently, the tripartite exhibition series Lesbian Legacies at Kunstraum Scherben Berlin. Since 2021, she has also been a member of the Stiftung Schwules Museum board, which supports queer art and culture.

Judith Geffert is a freelance radio writer. She studied literature, theater, and the culture and history of Central and Eastern Europe, in Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder). She produces radio plays, features and podcasts on topics including lesbian-feminist networks in the GDR. She co-curated the exhibition Gemeinsam sind wir unerträglich. Die unabhängige Frauenbewegung in der DDR (Together, we are unbearable: The independent women’s movement in the GDR). Her radio play Kontaktanzeigen. Queere Generationendialoge in Ostdeutschland (Personal Ads: Queer Intergenerational Dialogues in East Germany) premiered on Deutschlandradio in 2024.

Nina Weller is a Slavic and literary studies researcher. At the ZfL, she researches popular culture, cultures of remembrance, and documentary literature in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. She also works as a literary educator and translator.

The event is part of the exhibition Queer Art in the GDR? Biographies Between Underground and Propaganda, on display from March 28 to June 28, 2026, at KVOST, the nGbK, the Mitte Museum, and the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge.

Fig. above: View of the exhibition at nGbK. In the front left, sculptures by Dorothea von Philipsborn; on the right, paintings by Erika Stürmer-Alex; in the back, ceramic plates and woodcuts by Jürgen Wittdorf. Photo: Valentin Wedde, courtesy of KVOST, Berlin.