Art in the systemic conflict of the Cold War: special exhibition in Zwickau

Art in the systemic conflict of the Cold War and visions of the sun seekers: a special exhibition in Zwickau will be showing around 80 paintings and around 150 graphic works from the Wismut art collection from next April. The focus of the art purchased or commissioned by Wismut has always been the working man, said curator Paul Kaiser. "In the early years, mining life was portrayed heroically, while in the 1970s and 1980s, socially critical depictions were increasingly to be found."

During the GDR era, Wismut mined uranium in Thuringia and Saxony for the Soviet Union's nuclear program. The miners extracted around 231,000 tons of the ore from the earth. Wismut also collected art. Over the years, a collection of more than 4,200 works has been amassed. The exhibition can be seen from April to October next year at the Historische Baumwollspinnerei in Zwickau.