ENTERPRISE EIGEN+ART

The Gallerist Gerd Harry Lybke

Author:

Manuela Martinson

Director:

Martin Huebner | Juergen Ast

Commissioning Editor:

Martin Huebner

Duration:

30'

Production:

MDR

"We do not only look for the profit, we intend to write art history." A very demanding idea by the gallerist and the artists of the EIGEN+ART gallery. The media is already talking of art making history, of the "stars", the "newcomers" and a new "avant-garde", the "East-Art" is the new trend. The artists from Leipzig, they seem to succeed, their work is for sale on the art market of the West. Top prices are paid for the installations, paintings and drawings made in the East. In the center of the development is the gallery EIGEN+ART and its gallerist Gerd Harry Lybke. His friends call him Judy.

It all started in the early eighties, when Lybke established a private gallery. The story of EIGEN+ART, it is the story of free spirit and subculture in a very restricted and imposed world of art in the former German Democratic Republic and meanwhile it has become a legend. Between 1983 and 1990 more than 80 exhibitions took place. There were readings, discussions, happenings, music, ...

1989 - The unification of Germany. Dramatic changes took place, but Gerd Harry Lybke has his own way to encounter the time of changes. "With only 10 West German mark I traveled 1990 to an art fair in Frankfurt." Today, Lybke is regarded as the most successful East German gallerist, known all over the world. What is his secret? How high is the price he has to pay? The documentary-portrait about the exceptional gallerist searches for answers.