Contribution of fine art to discourse on war and peace

This major publication produced by the working group of the same name was intended as a sequel to the previous publications Funktionen bildender Kunst in unserer Gesellschaft and Theorie und Praxis demokratischer Kulturarbeit. In this case, as the foreword puts it, the aim was “to juxtapose alternative social systems like capitalism and socialism, and to explore the function of democracy and power, as well as the regularity of wars.” While a series of fold-out displays with diagrams and graphics seek to shed light on “capitalism today” and “socialism today,” there are plates of works by Francisco de Goya, Édouard Manet, Max Beckmann, George Grosz, and many others that were posted on billboards around the city in the form of collages—an example of democratic cultural work capable of reaching “broad sections of the population.” The texts in the book shed light on various subjects including the arms industry, the Peasants’ Revolt of 1525, and the satirical newspaper Simplicissimus.

Ed.: nGbK