E.R.N.A. was born Elke Riemer in Lichtenstein (Saxony) in 1954. In addition to training as a children’s nurse, she attended the Academy of Art in Dresden as an evening student. From 1979 to 1984 she studied art there under Gerhard Kettner. In 1982, together with Paul Böckelmann, she acquired old farm buildings in Altenau (Brandenburg), which they converted into an art workshop. In 2004 a producer‘s gallery was opened, also in Altenau (Lower Saxony), where E.R.N.A. lives and works.
Rolf Faber was born in Münster (North Rhine-Westphalia) in 1908. From 1928 he studied German, philosophy and theatre studies in Münster and Munich, followed by painting studies at the art academies in Munich and Kassel and at the State University of Art in Berlin. He spent a year abroad at the Académie Julian, Paris. In the 1950s he was co-founder and chairman of the Neue Aachener Gruppe. In 1962 he moved to West Berlin. Faber died in Berlin in 2007.
Rainer Fetting was born in Wilhelmshaven (Lower Saxony) in 1949. He studied painting at the University of the Fine Arts, West Berlin, under Hans Jaenisch from 1972 to 1978. In 1977 he co-founded the Galerie am Moritzplatz. In 1978 a DAAD scholarship took him to New York. Fetting received international attention in 1981 in the show A New Spirit in Painting at the Royal Academy, London, and a year later in the Berlin exhibition Zeitgeist. In 2005 he was awarded the Henri Nannen Prize. His first retrospective was shown at the Berlinische Galerie in 2011. In 2020, the Museum Schloss Gottorf presented his extensive work. Fetting lives and works in Berlin and Westerland (Sylt).
Wieland Förster was born in Dresden in 1930. From 1953 to 1958 he studied sculpture at the Academy of Art in Dresden, followed by Fritz Cremer’s master class in East Berlin. In 1974 he was awarded the Käthe Kollwitz Prize of the Academy of Arts of the GDR. In 1974 he became a member of the Academy of Arts of the GDR, and in 1985 he was appointed professor. In 2000 he received the Federal Order of Merit, and in 2009 he was awarded the honorary prize of the Brandenburg Art Prize. Förster lives and works in Berlin and Oranienburg (Brandenburg).
FRANEK was born Sabine Franek-Koch in Potsdam (Brandenburg) in 1939. In the 1960s she studied at the University of the Fine Arts, West Berlin. From 1986 to 1987 she held a guest professorship there and from 1989 to 1990 she taught as a lecturer in Helsinki and Lahti (Finland), followed by a guest professorship at the University of Arts in Bremen in 1993. She has been artist in residence at the Djerassi Foundation in California and at the Fundación Valparaíso in Spain. FRANEK lives and works in Berlin and Lower Saxony.
Dan Freudenthal was born in Tel Aviv in 1945. From 1971 to 1979 he studied at the University of Arts, West Berlin, under Hann Trier and Fred Thieler, supported by a scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. He received the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Scholarship and the Berlin Senate Art Scholarship and spent time in New York. Freudenthal lives and works in Berlin.
Günther Friedrich wurde 1930 in Dresden geboren. Ab 1950 absolvierte er ein Studium an der Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden. Ab 1960 schloss er Werkverträge mit volkseigenen Betrieben der DDR. 1974 erhielt Friedrich den Carl-Blechen-Preis des Rates des Bezirkes Cottbus sowie 1984 die Hans-Grundig-Medaille des Vereins Berliner Künstler. Friedrich verstarb 1986 in Cottbus (Brandenburg).
2015 richtete das Museum Dieselkraftwerk in Cottbus, das zahlreiche seiner Werke besitzt, eine Retrospektive aus.
Romen Banerjee was born in 1963 in West Berlin. From 1984 to 1990 he studied physics and graduated in art studies at the University of Arts in West Berlin, under Wolfgang Petrick. Banerjee co-founded the Ateliergemeinschaft Tempelhofer Ufer, a studio cooperative, in 1988. In the same year he received the Art Prize of IG Metall. From 1992 to 1993 he was a lecturer at the University of Arts. He is involved in projects such as the Prozessgalerie (2009), an organisation and debate platform. Banerjee lives and works in Berlin.
Gisela Achterberg was born in 1941 in Bautzen (Saxony). After an apprenticeship as a tailor, she became intensely involved in painting and graphic arts and completed a correspondence course in art and cultural studies at the Humboldt University in East Berlin. In 1962 she made Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg her main residence. She taught foundation art studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. Since 1978 Achterberg has lived in Berlin-Wilhelmshagen.
Gloria Brand was born in Teschen (today Cieszyn, Poland) in 1943. She grew up in Hesse and studied at the University of Design in Offenbach from 1960 to 1965. After a one-year stay in the USA, she worked from 1966 to 1968 as a set and stage design assistant at the Städtische Bühnen in Frankfurt am Main. Since 1970 she has been working as a freelance artist. Her awards include the Eisenturm Prize of Mainz and her appointment as a member of the Darmstädter Sezession. Brand lives and works in Buchschlag/Dreieich (Hesse).