Focus Albertinum „I'm not holding my breath“

Cornelia Schleime – early works

Schon während ihres Studiums

The artist, who grew up in East Berlin, was already searching for a freer concept of art during her time as a student of painting and graphic arts at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (HfBK) from 1975 to 1980. In 1981 she was banned from exhibiting and reacted to this with non-conformist self-staging performances and body painting actions. After submitting five applications for an exit visa, Schleime was finally able to leave the GDR in 1984, but only took with her a small portion of the work she had created up to that point – much of it is now considered lost.

Ergänzend zur parallel

In parallel with the exhibition "Cornelia Schleime. "Ich lass mich nicht spannen - lass mich nicht flechten" (I cannot be bent – I won’t let myself be manipulated)” at the Städtische Galerie Dresden, Schleime's experimental Super 8 films produced between 1982 and 1984 are being presented at the Albertinum, along with photographs of her self-staging performances such as "Ich halte doch nicht die Luft an" (I’m not holding my breath) or "Bondage" (Hüpstedt 1982).  By exposing and wrapping her body in different ways, the artist expressed her attitude to life in the GDR and to the confinement that she perceived as claustrophobic. In 1993, she created her fourteen-part series "Bis auf weitere gute Zusammenarbeit" ("Until further good cooperation", on loan by the Kupferstich-Kabinett of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), a series of staged photographic performances, in which the artist commented on and satirised the files made about her by the Stasi (the GDR Ministry for State Security). The exhibition is complemented by a small number of paintings from the Albertinum's collection, including "Der Verräter" (The Informer) (1991).