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.
Dieter Zimmermann was born in 1942 in Słupca (Poland). From 1968 to 1973 he studied at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Arts in Halle (Saale) under Willi Sitte and Hannes Wagner. In 1993 he received the Fine Arts Prize of the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg, followed in 2000 by a scholarship for the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris awarded by the ministry in Brandenburg. Zimmermann has lived and worked in Brahmow in the Spreewald (Brandenburg) since 1981.
Bernd Zimmer was born in 1948 in Planegg (Bavaria). Until 1971 he worked at a publishing house. In 1973 he moved to West Berlin and took courses in philosophy and religious studies at the Free University of Berlin. In 1977 he was a founding member of the Galerie am Moritzplatz. In 1979 he received the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Scholarship and in 1982 a scholarship for Villa Massimo in Rome. In 1984 he moved back to Bavaria, where he has since lived and worked. He founded the Bernd Zimmer Art Foundation there in 2012 where, as an art project, he has been building a columned stoa since 2018.
Martin Zeller was born in 1961 in Mannheim (Baden-Württemberg). From 1983 to 1989 he studied communication design at the University of Design in Darmstadt. In 1993 he moved to Berlin. In 1994–95 he taught at the University of Mannheim. He has received many awards, including the European Photography Award in 1995 and various working scholarships. He has worked in Hong Kong, Italy and Switzerland on international photographic projects. Today Zeller lives and works in Portugal.
Heinz Zander was born in 1939 in Wolfen near Bitterfeld (Saxony-Anhalt). From 1959 to 1964 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig under Bernhard Heisig. From 1967 to 1970 he was a master student for graphic art of Fritz Cremer at the German Academy of Arts in East Berlin before returning to Leipzig, where he lives and works to this day.