Exterra XX: Exterra in the Air XX

In the 1980s and 1990s, the artist group Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt repeatedly staged actions on the rooftops of Erfurt for their Super 8 films.

Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt, Frauenträume, 1986, Still, Super-8-Film © Archiv Gabriele Stötzer, Courtesy: Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt

As part of the exhibition Gabriele Stötzer: Dabei sein und nicht schweigen, Exterra XX (formerly Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt), now continues this practice in Berlin with a new performance on the roof of Gropius Bau. The performance can be seen free of charge from Niederkirchnerstraße, in the immediate vicinity of the remains of the Berlin Wall.

“We were Furies, ordinary women, women failing to fit any mould, not even that of dropouts, alternatives, punks, hippies, churchies or artists,” member Monika Andres recalls of the early days of the Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt.  

Gabriele Stötzer, who worked in the artistic underground in the GDR from the 1970s onwards, initiated the founding of the artist group. Together, its members made art and critiscised the political system in provocative interventions. Between 1984 and 1994, working in changing constellations, they created performances, manifestos, experimental music, photographs, action painting, drawings, fashion as well as Super 8 films, in which the group repeatedly staged actions on the rooftops of Erfurt. Taking place on the occasion of the Long Night of Museums 2026 and as part of 75 Years of Berliner Festspiele, their new performance on the roof of Gropius Bau is accompanied by the Ensemble for Intuitive Music Weimar.

Next date:

• Date Saturday, 29/August/2026 21:00
• Venue Gropius Bau
• Address Niederkirchnerstraße 7, 10117 Berlin-Mitte