Veitstanz/Feixtanz
Gabriele Stötzer
Ecstatic, convulsing bodies – »St. Vitus’ dance«, a phenomenon dating back to the Middle Ages when people danced publicly to the point of collapse, is revived in 1988 by 13 men and women in Erfurt. Their bodies suggest that anyone can claim public spaces and move as freely and as defiantly as they wish. In the drab East German setting, Gabriele Stötzer carves out her own space, drawing on pagan traditions and invoking matriarchal origins. Her inspiration is resistance. »This film, made in the GDR – the land of socialist dictatorship – is an expression of the freedom inherent in us all, when we chose to claim it,« Stötzer explains.
Guest: Gabriele Stötzer
Gabriele Stötzer
Born in East Germany in 1953, Gabriele Stötzer was expelled from university for supporting critical remarks made by a fellow student. In 1976, she protested against dissident Wolf Biermann’s expatriation from East Germany, and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment – a period she later reflects on in Die bröckelnde Festung (2005). After serving a probationary period in a shoe factory, she decided to devote herself exclusively to art. Denied membership in the Association of Visual Artists, the self-taught Stötzer worked underground, sewing, weaving, writing poetry and taking photos. From 1980, she ran the Galerie im Flur, and in 1984 she founded the Erfurt women’s group Exterra XX, which produced objects, experimental feminist Super 8 films and performances. In 1989, she and other activists occupied former Stasi properties in Erfurt. Since 1989, she has published nine books, and in 2013 she participated in a group exhibition at the Academy of Arts. Her largest solo exhibition to date, Dabei sein und nicht schweigen, will open at the Gropius Bau in June 2026.
Films by Gabriele Stötzer
Crossover 1990 | Erfurt Stadt 1989 | Signale 1989 | Veitstanz / Feixtanz 1988 | Kentaur 1988 | Frauenträume 1986 | Trisal 1986 | Die Austreibung aus dem Paradies 1984 | Kai und Karsten 1983 | Lokalbestimmung Erfurt 1982
