Tohm di Roes

The history of the GDR Super-8 scene—an underground art movement that produced films outside official channels in the 1980s—produced by Cornelia Klauss, herself a Super-8 artist. The Stasi (secret police) monitored this rebellious scene closely. Female artists Ramona Köppel-Welsch, Cornelia Schleime and Christine Schlegel, among others, talk about their art and films, their experiences as artists in the GDR, and how their work changed after the Wall came down.

GDR August 31, 1985, Klubhaus in Coswig/Dresden - "Intermedia I - Farbraum/Klangbild"- the event was the first and, as it turned out, the last exhibition by the subculture in East Germany, in which over 40 visual artists and twice as many musicians, performers and super 8 film photographers participated. About 1,200 visitors travelled from all over the GDR to witness a six hour programme on both evenings. It remains unclear to this day how many informers working for the Stasi were among them.

Snapshots from the life of the eccentric Tohm di Roes, who angrily shouts against the philistines with the wild gesture of punk.