Surrealism in East Germany

East Germany began its existence as a dream.
A dream of a utopian socialist society. It was to be the
antidote to the racism and fascism that had gone before.

While West Germany either tried to forget or tried to hide
its Nazi past, East Germany vowed to root out all
Nazi sympathisers in positions of power and influence,
and republish all the books that The Third Reich had burned.

For East Germany was to be a nation of poets and writers. Each
workplace of a certain size was to have a substantial library,
and workers were encouraged to create their own compositions…

Due to several factors often, but by no means exclusively,
related to how the West treated this small nation, not all
of the ideals it began with could be envisioned.

And partly as a result of all of this
not-quite-one-thing-or-another situation,
surrealism and subversion flourished…

This catalogue delves into this never-before-considered
exciting and intriguing world – of poetry, art, photography,
and literature – via the marvellous prism of surrealism