Strawalde was born Jürgen Böttcher in 1931 in Frankenberg (Saxony) and grew up in Strahwalde. From 1949 to 1953 he studied painting at the Academy of Art in Dresden, and from 1955 to 1960 film-directing at the German Academy of Cinematic Art in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Until 1991 he worked at the DEFA documentary film studio in Berlin. A film retrospective of his was held in Paris in 1986 and in Frankfurt am Main in 1989. He has received numerous awards such as the 1979 National Prize of the GDR, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 2022 the Jerg Ratgeb Prize. Strawalde lives and works in Berlin.
Norbert Bisky wurde 1970 in Leipzig geboren. Von 1994 bis 1999 studierte er an der Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, bei Georg Baselitz, bei dem er auch sein Meisterschülerstudium absolvierte. Von 2008 bis 2010 war er Gastprofessor an der Haute École d’Art et de Design, Genf, von 2016 bis 2018 an der Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig. 2013 gestaltete er das Bühnenbild für das Staatsballett Berlin (Halle am Berghain), Berlin. 2015 arbeitete er in Tel Aviv. Bisky lebt und arbeitet in Berlin.
Barbara Quandt was born in 1947 in Berlin. From 1970 to 1976 she studied at the University of the Fine Arts in West Berlin under Hans Kuhn and K. H. Hödicke. From 1978 to 1979 a DAAD Scholarship took her to the St Martins School of Art in London, and a PS1 Scholarship to New York in 1982. In 2003 she began to teach at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Arts in Halle (Saale). Since 2008 Quandt has lived and worked in Lehnitz (Brandenburg) and Berlin.
Elvira Bach was born in 1951 in Neuenhain, Taunus (Hesse). She studied painting at the University of Arts in West Berlin, under Hann Trier from 1972 to 1979, alongside the co-founders of the Galerie am Moritzplatz. During her studies she worked at the Berlin Schaubühne theatre. Afterwards, a scholarship took her to the Dominican Republic. Participation in documenta 7 in Kassel in 1982 brought about her international breakthrough. Bach lives and works in Berlin.
Annemirl Bauer was born in Jena (Thuringia) in 1939. From 1955 to 1958 she attended the University of Applied Art in Sonneberg. She then completed evening studies at the Academy of Art in Dresden. From 1962 to 1965 she studied at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin. From 1970 she created murals for public buildings in Berlin and Thuringia on behalf of the state. In 1976 she moved to Niederwerbig near Potsdam. In the 1980s she advocated freedom of travel for all GDR citizens. Bauer died in East Berlin in 1989. In 2010 a square at the Ostkreuz train station in Berlin was named after her.
Richard Heß was born in 1937 in Berlin. From 1952 to 1955 he was an apprentice wood sculptor, then studied sculpture at the University of the Fine Arts in West Berlin. In 1961–1962 he took part in Bernhard Heiliger’s master class, then worked as an assistant at the Technical University in Braunschweig and the Technical University in Darmstadt. In 1980 he was awarded the Art Prize of the City of Darmstadt. From 1980 to 2001 he held a professorship at the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld. From 2001 Heß returned to live and work in Berlin until his death in 2017.
Uta Hünniger was born in 1954 in Weimar (Thuringia). From 1977 to 1982 she studied graphic art at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin. In the 1980s she lived as a freelance artist in Prenzlauer Berg in East Berlin and ran an open studio under the name Galerie Viola Blum. In 1988 she moved to West Berlin and in 1996 to Erfurt, where she opened a school of drawing. Hünniger received several working scholarships from the State of Thuringia, and in 2021 was awarded a scholarship of the German Association of Artists. Hünniger lives and works in Erfurt (Thuringia).
Volker Bartsch was born in Goslar (Lower Saxony) in 1953. In 1973 he began studying sculpture at the University of Arts, West Berlin. Since 1981 he has been a freelance artist in Berlin. In 1985 Bartsch was commissioned to create the Ammonitenbrunnen fountain on what is now Olof-Palme-Platz in Berlin. In addition to his sculptural work, he produces series of paintings. In 1988 Bartsch received the Kaiserring scholarship from the city of Goslar, and in 1990 the Prize of the Darmstädter Sezession. Since 1996 Bartsch has lived and worked in Michendorf near Potsdam (Brandenburg).
Gerhard Wienckowski was born in 1935 in Fürstenwalde (Brandenburg). From 1954 to 1957 he studied at the School of Applied Art in Potsdam. This was followed by studies of painting and graphic art at the Academy of Art in Dresden under Hans-Theo Richter and Gerhard Kettner until 1966. He has received awards including the Heinrich von Kleist Art Prize of the City of Frankfurt an der Oder in 1984 and the scholarship at the Lukas Artists’ House in Ahrenshoop in 1994. Wienckowski died in 2011 in Eberswalde (Brandenburg).
Klaus Zylla was born in 1953 in Cottbus (Brandenburg). From 1977 to 1980 he worked as a screen printer, initially studying part-time and later full-time until 1982 at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin, after which he was head of the screen printing workshop at the Academy of Art in Dresden until 1983. From 1985 to 1990 he ran his own screen printing studio in East Berlin. He was awarded the Art Prize of the GrundkreditBank in Berlin in 1993. Zylla lives and works in Berlin and Portugal.