COURAGE

connecting collections

Reinhard Zabka ist ein autodidaktischer Künstler der 1950 in Erfurt geboren wurde. In den 1970ern hatte er verschiedene Gelegenheitsjobs und befasste sich mit Kunst. Zabka war einer der zahlreichen Personen deren Ausreiseantrag 1972 abgelehnt wurde. In den 80ern zog er nach Berlin und schloss sich der Künstlergruppe des Prenzlauer Berg an, experimentierte mit verschiedenen Materialen und Medien, Dabei konzentrierte er sich besonders auf Installationen, Aktionskunst und experimentelle Kunst. 1979/80 wurde er als Aufnahmekandidat für den Künstlerbund der DDR akzeptiert und 1982 dort aufgenommen. Der Bund erlaubte ihm als Künstler zu arbeiten und sich von seinem Status als ‚asoziales Element‘ zu rehabilitieren.

Zu DDR-Zeiten stellte er unter anderem in der Galerie Sophienstraße 8 in Berlin, der Kunsthochschule Dresden, der Galerie für Junge Kunst in Frankfurt an der Oder, der Galerie zum Weissen Elefanten und dem Palast der Republik aus. Nach einer Ausstellung im Palast der Republik im Jahr 1984 wurde seine Installation 'Psychedelica Maschinka' konfisziert und dem Künstler zurückgegeben.

1980 zog er sich nach Babe zurück und eröffnete ein Sommeratelier, das 1984 zu einem Künstlerhaus und Platz für künstlerisches Engagement wurde. Nach der Wende wurde das Haus ein Museum umgewandelt, das 1997 nach Gantikow in Brandenburg umsiedelte. Das Museum bringt sich aktiv bei der Organisation von Ausstellungen, internationalen Kunstfestivals, Sommercamps, Workshops und Symposien ein. Das Museum wurde zur gleichen Zeit wie das Deutsche Historische Museum in Berlin gegründet. Zabkas Museum war eine künstlerische Antwort auf das offizielle Aufarbeiten der jüngeren Vergangenheit, weswegen das Museum als Deutsches Historisches Lügenmuseum konzipiert war.

Zurzeit leitet Zabka das Lügenmuseum und nimmt weiter an verschiedenen nationalen und internationalen Ausstellungen und Projekten teil. Zu seinen internationalen Projekten gehört seine Teilnahme an der Biennale in Venedig (1990) mit der Installation ‚Labyrinth des Glaubens‘ die Erinnerungsstücke an die DDR enthielt und als Reflektion über dem Untergang der DDR verstanden werden wollte.

Zaborskaitė (1922-2010) was a literary critic and historian. After she was dismissed from the Department of Lithuanian Literature at Vilnius University in 1961, she worked at the Institute of History. She became an active member of the Sąjūdis movement. She was also a member of the group of scholars who prepared educational reform for the Republic of Lithuania. She is the author of a biography of the famous Lithuanian poet Maironis (1862-1932).

The life, work and activities of Professor Vanda Zaborskaitė are relevant to the theme of cultural opposition for at least three reasons. First of all, in the 1950s and early 1960s, she was a member of the Department of Lithuanian Literature at Vilnius University. At that time, the department came under strong ideological criticism from the government. Zaborskaitė belonged to the so-called group of 'witches' that were forced to leave their positions as lecturers. Secondly, Zaborskaitė's research interests included the life and poetry of the Lithuanian poet Jonas Mačiulis-Maironis. While Maironis was not banned as an author in Soviet Lithuania, the estimation of his personality was complicated. Thirdly, Zaborskaitė was religious since her early childhood. She kept in touch with a number of Catholic priests, keeping up a correspondence with them. 

Adriana Zaharijević studied political science at the University in Belgrade. She is a junior researcher at the Faculty of Political Sciences. At present she is also a co-director of the Women’s Studies Center. She has been employed at the Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory since 2013, and since 2016 she has been working as an assistant professor at the University of Novi Sad.

In addition, she was previously program director of the Third Program of Radio Belgrade from 2004 to 2011. Since 2003 Zaharijević has been a member of the Association of Literary Translators of Serbia. Her fields of interest are political philosophy, contemporary feminist theory and history of the nineteenth century. She has published two monographs and over sixty works, which she has presented in Serbia and around the world. Her current theoretical interests are in the field of critical engagement. Key publications of Zaharijević include Somebody Said Feminism? (ed., 2007, 2008); Becoming A Woman (2010); “Radical Feminism” in Introduction to Gender Theories (Novi Sad, 2011).

Jan Zahradníček was a Czech poet, writer, translator, critic, and journalist. He is known for his Catholic and anti-communist poetry. His first poems appeared in 1924 in Studentský časopis. Zahradníček subsequently contributed to many other journals and newspapers (e.g. Tvar, Listy pro umění a kritiku, Archa, Host, Literární noviny, Kvart, Lidové noviny). His first collection of poems, entitled Pokušení smrti (The Temptation of Death), was published in 1930. In 1929 and 1930 Zahradníček passed librarian exams. He edited the literary review Akord (1940–1948) and worked as an editor at Brněnské tiskárny publishing house (1945–1949). After the Communist coup of February 1948, Zahradníček was expelled from the Union of Czechoslovak Writers because of his Catholic and anti-communist attitudes. In June 1951, he was accused of espionage and subversions against the Communist regime and arrested. A year later, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. During his imprisonment, he continued writing poetry. Poems from this period were published later, after Zahradníčekʼs death, in the collections Čtyři léta (Four years, 1969) and Dům Strach (House of Fear, 1981). These poems reflected not only his difficult life in prison, but also family tragedy – his two daughters died in 1956 from mushroom poisoning. Apart from these two collections, Zahradníčekʼs reflection of the Communist regime can be found in the poetry collections La Saletta (1947) and Znamení moci (Sign of Power, 1951). However, Znamení moci could not be published until 1990. Zahradníček was granted amnesty and released in 1960, although, due to his poor health, he died soon after his release. Before 1989, Communist authorities tried to remove Zahradníčekʼs name from the official history of Czech literature. Thus, before 1989, his work could only be published – with some exceptions during the late 1960s – as samizdat or in exile.

Pavel Zajíček is a Czech poet, musician, artist and was a leading figure of the Czech underground. He cooperated with the underground band Plastic People of the Universe and in 1973 he founded, together with Milan Hlavsa, the band DG 307. Zajíček wrote lyrics for these bands. In 1976, he was sentenced to a year in prison. After his release, he was a signatory to Charter 77. In 1980, he emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Sweden and later to the United States of America.