Lecture series "Borders, Upheavals, Transformations. Arts and Cultures before and after 1989/90"

In the summer semester 2025, the transdisciplinary lecture series by Prof. Dr. Patrick Primavesi entitled: "Borders, Upheavals, Transformations. Arts and Cultures before and after 1989/90" at Leipzig University invites you to critically examine processes of social and cultural change before and after 1989/90. The focus is on the question of how artistic and cultural practices changed in the GDR, during the period of reunification and in reunified Germany - and what traces these processes have left behind in contemporary culture to this day. The lecture series brings together perspectives from art, history, theology, regional studies and sociology. It discusses the drawing and crossing of borders in political, cultural and social contexts - between East and West, between the center and the periphery, between art and science. The occasion and content framework is the festival "Politics in Independent Theatre", which will take place in Leipzig from October 16 to 25, 2025. The lecture series will provide an initial platform for preparing the content and will accompany the festival academically. Prof. Dr. Raj Kollmorgen will make an important contribution to the lecture series on 29 April 2025. In his lecture, he will focus on social change in East Germany and the long-term effects of the transformation after 1989/90, showing how political upheavals have shaped cultural and social structures right up to the present day - and thus opening up an in-depth perspective on current cultural developments.