25th Anniversary of a Unified Akademie

Twenty-five years ago, the artists' associations in the two parts of Germany (West Germany and the GDR) united as one German Akademie der Künste. What seems only natural from today's point of view was the result of a heated conflict both within and outside the artists' society. A two-year academy dispute grew into an ideological substitute debate about reunification. Walter Jens and Heiner Müller, the institutions' two presidents, significantly contributed to the eventual success of the merger, because despite their different intentions, they held firmly to the objective of creating an independent, internationally oriented Akademie der Künste. In contrast the fusion of the two archives, East and West, went rather smoothly. By autumn of 1990 the directors of the archives had developed a concept for unified German art archives that was also largely implemented. The special anniversary gives the Akademie an occasion to look back at these events. Katharina Wackernagel and Charly Hübner read texts from the unification process. In a panel discussion, Katharina Thalbach, Christoph Hein, Jürgen Becker, Ulrich Roloff-Momin and Klaus Staeck address developments within the Akademie over the past 25 years. Presented by Alfred Eichhorn.