Vortrag von Manfred Mayer: „Nichts ist erledigt“ – Klaus Staeck als Künstler und Akademiepräsident

In the organizer's words:

The work of artist Klaus Staeck has been closely linked to Berlin's cultural and political landscape for decades. His first exhibition in the East Berlin gallery "Arkade" attracted a great deal of attention as early as 1976. This was also given to him by the State Security in the 1980s when Staeck traveled to exhibitions in other places in the GDR. After his admission to the Academy of Arts in East Berlin in 1990, Staeck was a member of the so-called "Committee of Twenty", which prepared the unification of the two academies.

Manfred Mayer, long-time spokesperson of the Akademie der Künste and close companion of Klaus Staeck, will trace the central stages of Staeck's work in his lecture on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 7 pm. The focus will be on his nine-year term as President of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin from 2006 to 2015 as well as the more than 60 "Akademie Talks" he initiated and usually personally accompanied.

In these talks, Staeck discussed politically relevant topics and therelationship between art and politics with politicians, artists and media professionals. Short video sequences from selected recorded conversations will be shown. The lecture will also present the Academy exhibitions initiated by Staeck and the major retrospective "Schöne Aussichten" (2009) at the Berlinische Galerie.

Registration is not required. Free admission.