In 2002, I heard about a research project* dealing with the sociological analysis of state-commissioned artworks in the former East Germany (GDR), many of which are now stored in various depots and not exhibited. An analytical approach to this period seemed difficult for museums and galleries, and many exhibitions of this art remained controversial for many years after German reunification.

This inspired me to find a non-confrontational way to work with – and even ‘show’ – these ‘unloved’ artworks. For Rückblick / Re-Viewing, I selected 15 paintings that once belonged to the Office for Visual Arts of the District Council of Dresden, and are now part of the more than 30,000 works in the collection of the Kunstfonds des Freistaates Sachsen (Art Fund of the Free State of Saxony) at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. I chose works in which one person or at most a few people were in the foreground, so that viewing the painting could be a kind of dialogue.

I then invited 30 people of different ages and backgrounds to visit the depot and to choose a painting from my preselection. With the camera running, the participants described the painting they had chosen. They weren’t told beforehand that these were some of the controversial GDR artworks. Nor were they told the date, the name of the artist, or the title of the work.

When we watch Rückblick / Re-Viewing, we see the people describing the paintings, but we don’t see the artworks themselves (just a bit of the back) – and yet the painting itself plays a major role. Because its origins remain obscured, and because we are allowed to witness a very personal encounter with the individuals and their communication with and about the paintings, the otherwise often problematic confrontation with Socialist Realism remains unbiased.

Some participants completely ignored the political/historical context and took the opportunity to meditate on themselves or their lives. In any event, the painting is reflected by the viewer, which becomes particularly apparent when the same painting is described in a completely different way.

My role in the project was that of facilitator and communicator, although I remain invisible: I am the one to whom the participants explain the picture. What emerges is a triangular relationship between me (and now you, the viewer), the person on the canvas, and the figure(s) in the painting.

As an American artist living in Dresden at the time, it was important for me to approach the situation of East German art in storage with caution and care. I believe that because I did not share the emotional concerns that would arise in the debates over the status of East German art, my perspective allowed for a different way of looking at – and perhaps even appreciating – these works.