Explore the subculture of 1980s German art scene at Karvasla display

A major era for the 20th century German art scene will be explored in a multimedia display opening at Tbilisi’s Karvasla venue next week after being presented at venues worldwide.

Titled Brilliant Dilletantes — The Subculture of the 1980s Germany, the exhibition will illustrate a major artistic change in West Germany in the decade between 1979 and 1989.

It is designed to reflect the era of the German scene where experimental work enjoyed particular prominence among social circles of art institutes, whereas the former focus on artistry was less marked.

Ronald Lippok, Charlotta Jansen, Robert Lippok; Youth club Gerard Phillipe, Berlin 1988. Photo: Hartmut Beil/Goethe Institute.

[The period was characterised by] a cross-genre approach: musicians turned Super 8 films, painters played in bands or founded clubs that acted as incubators not only in Berlin, but also in Duesseldorf, Munich, Bonn or Rosenheim[...]”, said a summary from organisers.

The deliberately misspelled title of the exhibition is based on a 1981 concert at Berlin’s Tempodrom arena that signified the currents of the scene.

The developments driving the 1980s change included the production of clips made possible by the maiden affordable video recorders, while photocopied fanzines and cassette labels were other notable features of the phenomenon.

The concept of the show will be presented via works by seven musical bands and artists as well as cinematographers and designers from former East and West German states.

The display will include interviews, visual and photographic exhibits, audio texts, publications and posters among the varied selection of media.

Organised in Tbilisi through a collaboration between the Goethe Institute Georgia and the Georgian National Museum, the interactive display will be presented in the country for the first time.

Opening at the Karvasla venue (formally known as the Ioseb Grishashvili Tbilisi History Museum) on March 6, it will showcase works curated by project leader Mathilde Weh of the Goethe Institut Munich.

Weh collaborated on the concept for the moving display with Leonhard Emmerling of the Munich-based institution.

Within the Tbilisi exhibition, Robert Lippok, one of the participating artists, will attend a meeting with the public at Karvasla on March 15.

Lippok will also lead a workshop "when the music doesn’t need visuals art all” for students of the Tbilisi-based Creative Education Studio at the Fabrika venue, and perform for the Tbilisi audience at Cafe Gallery on the same date.