Christl Maria Göthner was born in Bad Lausick (Saxony) in 1957. From 1978 to 1984, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig under Prof. Bernhard Heisig, graduating with a degree in painting and graphic design. From 1990 to 1993, she was a master student at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. She works as a freelancer in Leipzig.

Núria Quevedo was born in Barcelona in 1938 and went into exile in East Berlin with her parents in 1952. From 1958 to 1963, she studied graphic arts at the Weissensee University of the Arts under, among others, Arno Mohr and Werner Klemke, with whom she later became a master student at the Academy of Arts of the GDR from 1968 to 1971. In 1974, she became the first woman artist to receive the Max Lingner Prize. Until 1990, she was a member of the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR. Since 1997, Quevedo has lived and worked in Berlin and in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Catalonia.

Peter Ackermann was born in Jena (Thuringia) in 1934. Between 1956 and 1962, he studied at the University of Arts in West Berlin. After 1963, he initially worked as a freelance painter in Karlsruhe. In 1976/77, he held a professorship at the University of Arts in Berlin before taking up a professorship at the Academy in Karlsruhe in 1977. He received several awards for his artistic work: in 1965 he received the German Critics’ Prize and in 1971 the Villa Romana Prize. In 1977 he was represented at documenta 6 in Kassel. He died in 2007.

Xago was born Rolf Xago Schröder in 1942 in Elsterwerda (Brandenburg). Between 1962 and 1966, he studied philosophy, literary studies, and cultural studies at Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1966, Xago became an assistant at the Babelsberg Film and Television Academy, before moving in 1970 to the German Building Academy of the GDR, where he conducted research on urban sociology and Bauhaus. From 1975 onwards, he devoted himself more intensively to painting and joined the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR in 1976. On 11 April 1990, the members elected him as the first and at the same time the last freely elected President and “First Spokesman.”

Wilfried Falkenthal was born in 1942 in Baruth/Mark (Brandenburg). From 1962 to 1966, he studied art education and German language and literature at the University of Leipzig. He then continued his training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig until 1971, where he studied painting under Werner Tübke and Wolfgang Mattheuer, graduating with a diploma. Between 1971 and 1990, he was a member of the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR, and from 1985 to 1990 he also served as chairman of the Leipzig Artists’ Cooperative. Since 1971, he has been working as a freelance artist in Leipzig.

Daniel Sambo-Richter was born in 1966 in Görlitz (Saxony) and grew up in Cottbus. From 1982 to 1985, he undertook the preparatory programme in painting and graphic art at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts under Hans Scheuerecker and Uli Richter. In 1996, he was awarded a scholarship from the Sparkassen Cultural Foundation of Hesse-Thuringia, which included a residency at the Künstlerhaus Willingshausen, and that same year he received the Brandenburg Art Prize. This was followed by further national and international scholarships and residencies. Sambo-Richter lives and works in Berlin.

Hans-Otto Schmidt was born in 1945 in Bützow, Mecklenburg. In 1961 he began an apprenticeship as a carpenter before working as a qualified woodworker. He later joined the Landestheater Halle as a stage technician and, from 1965, worked at several theatres in East Berlin. That same year he began his artistic practice as a self-taught artist. In 1972 he became a member of the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR and exhibited his work publicly for the first time. From 2001 he lived and worked in Luisenhof, Uckermark. He died in Berlin in 2025.

Gerhard Hillich was born in 1944 in Bärwalde (Saxony). Following an apprenticeship as a telecommunications technician, he worked as a technical assistant in television broadcasting until 1964. He went on to study art education at the Humboldt University of Berlin from 1964 to 1969. Subsequently, he served as a research associate at the Märkisches Museum and as a lecturer in artistic practice at the Institute for Art Education, HU Berlin. A member of the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR, Hillich held his first significant solo exhibition of paintings and graphic works at the Galerie am Prater, Berlin. He died in Berlin in 2000.

Ulrich Hachulla was born in Heydebreck/Upper Silesia in 1943. After fleeing and relocating in Halle (Saale), he began taking drawing lessons in 1950. From 1963 to 1968, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig under Werner Tübke and Bernhard Heisig, among others, and graduated with a diploma in painting and graphic art. He then worked as a freelancer in Leipzig before taking on various positions at his former school from 1974. In 1993, he was appointed professor of graphic art and etching, which he held until his retirement in 2008. He was awarded the Art Prize of the City of Leipzig in 1978 and the Art Prize of the GDR in 1983. He lives and works in Leipzig.