The core of Luise Schröder’s work consists in addressing history, its significance for the present time, and the accompanying relevance of photographic images. Since 2021, based on her East German origins, the artist has been exploring the thematic and aesthetic aspects of non-governmental women’s and lesbian group activities in the GDR during the 1980s and 1990s, which have all too often been forgotten. Schröder enquires into the resistance movements and their experiences of transformation and sheds light on the role of archives in processes of remembering and forgetting. Her recently published artist’s book, Strömungen in Bewegung (Currents in Motion), serves as the basis for a photographic installation presented as part of EMOP Berlin 2025.

By visually translating parts of the publication, specific methods of artistic research, and research processes into the exhibition space, Luise Schröder addresses the relationship between history and the present, truth and fiction, self-empowerment and resistance with regard to the historiography of East German women. Luise Schröder is a fellow of the Berlin Artistic Research Program 2024/25.