COURAGE

Mbledhje koleksionesh

From 1968 till 1983, Joachim Walther worked at the literary magazine "Temperamente" and the publishing house "Der Morgen" as editor and publisher. His dismissals there were preceded by disputes about censorship. Afterwards, he worked as a freelance writer, but largely withdrew himself from the official literature scene until 1989. In 1990 he was appointed vice-president of the reformed writers' guild of the GDR. He wrote and published  "Sicherungsbereich Literatur" [Security Area Literature] in 1996, which is still a standard reference about the entanglement of State Security and writers in the GDR. For 20 years he himself was the target of serveral operations of State Security. He has in-depth knowledge of the literary scene of the GDR. Together with Ines Geipel he founded the "Archiv of Suppressed Literature in the GDR".

Alicja Wancerz-Gluza (b.1956). A Polish activist, founder and member of the board of the KARTA Centre Foundation. The wife of Zbigniew Gluza. In 1979 she graduated from the University of Warsaw. Member of the "Solidarity" in 1980. In January 1982, with a group of friends, she opened an underground newspaper called "Karta", which became a quarterly later on.

During the 1980s she was deeply involved in the underground movement. In 1987 she was one of the key persons responsible for launching the Eastern Archive. After 1990 Alicja Wancerz-Gluza conducted various tasks for KARTA - she is the leader of a historical competition for pupils "History at hand". She was also responsible for the digitalization process in KARTA.

Uwe Warnke studied cartography in Dresden. In 1982, he created the artists' book ENTWERTER/ODER which was published underground until 1989. Since reunification, it has continued to be published, though now officially, and Warnke is still editor. He also has written articles for other publications like UND, USW and Die Spinne.

In 1990 he founded a company that publishes artists’ and painters’ books and began working with visual poetry. He is also a member of the artists’ book group 13+, which has held international exhibitions since 2000.

He is a recipient of the V.O. Stomps prize of the city of Mainz and of scholarships from Culture Fund Foundation Berlin, Social Art Funding Berlin and Künstlerhaus Lukas.

Zbigniew Warpechowski is one of the trailblazers of performance art. He as actively involved in the Polish neo-avant-garde circles of 1970s and 1980s. In his art he uses auto-aggressive gestures such as self-immolation, as well as poetic and subtle ones, such as “inspiring” co-participants of performance, which from afar resembles whispering to one’s ear.

Warpechowski was born in 1938 in Ploski, Volhynia, USSR. He studied architecture at Cracow University of Technology, and at the Department of Industrial Forms at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. He was a member of the Black Market international group of performers.
Since 1967 he has staged over 260 performances in 26 countries, i.a. in USA, Canada, Japan, and Israel.

He strongly influenced Polish recognised contemporary artists such as Oskar Dawicki, Cezary Bodzianowski and Piotr Uklańsk, with the latter referring to Warpechowski as his master.

Źródła:
Gorządek Ewa, Zbigniew Warpechowski, Culture.pl 2006, http://culture.pl/pl/tworca/zbigniew-warpechowski
Zbigniew Warpechowski Official Website, http://www.warpechowski.sandomierz.net
Ronduda Łukasz, Warpechowski, Konieczny, Uklański, Bodzianowski. Warpechowski, Dawicki, Warszawa, Wydawnictwo SWPS Academica, Łódź 2010.

Already at the beginning of his studies in cultural studies and aesthetics at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Hans-Eckardt Wenzel founded the 'Liedertheater Karls Enkel' in 1976. Since his graduation in 1981, he works as a freelance writer, singer, actor and director. Together with Steffen Mensching he became known from 1979 to 1990 in the duo Mensching & Wenzel. He also followed the socio-political developments of his homeland with the socially critical 'Hammer Rehwü', and pre- and after regime change theatrical plays ('Neues', 'Altes' and 'Letztes,' 'aus der Da Da eR'). Wenzel was one of the main authors of the 'Resolution of Rock Musicians and Songwriters', which demanded 1989 changes in the GDR. As a soloist, he landed a 1986 success with his debut 'Stirb mir ein Stück'. Even after the fall of Berlin Wall he received awards, such as in 2002 the Kleinkunstpreis. Wenzel is a member of the PEN center Germany. As a critical songwriter, he continues to be successful on tour. Wenzel is also active as a writer of poetry books and audiobooks, for example in 2013 in collaboration with Christoph Hein for the audio book 'The First Book of Homer - Corrections'.