Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
Tainted with a brush of the West’s disdain
The recently discovered collection of artworks at the Wismut mine from GDR period challenges ‘received wisdom’ about socialist art, writes JOHN GREEN
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ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
JOHN GREEN relishes photography that unfolds a longstanding and poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
THE Wismut mine (the Soviet-German Joint Stock Company Wismut) was set up in 1946 after the war to supply uranium for the Soviet nuclear programme. It became the world’s fourth largest producer of uranium between 1946 and 1990. It was located in Saxony, in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany which, from 1949 onwards, became the territory of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
As one can imagine, working in this mine was dirty, dangerous and demanded heroic efforts from those who were prepared to work there, although the work was well remunerated. During GDR times, the mine became symbolic for selfless working-class endeavour.
With the launch of the ruling Socialist Unity Party’s new cultural programme The Bitterfeld Path in 1959, artists and writers were encouraged to spend time in factories and workplaces in order to establish a genuine rapport between themselves and workers and to help overcome the gulf between the world of manual labour and that of artistic creation.
More from this author
Mountains of research show that online hardcore material harms children by direct exposure and often indirectly - by those men porn inspires. Yet there are still no simple measures like age and content regulation in place, writes JOHN GREEN
JOHN GREEN relishes photography that unfolds a longstanding and poetic relationship with Leeds
Odysseus’s homecoming myth is treated as a factual story, with strong resonances for our contemporary world. This is an implicit anti-war film that has an urgent relevance, writes JOHN GREEN
JOHN GREEN recommends an entertaining, if harsh and instructive, study of bullying, discipline and power dynamics in schools and at work
