Christian W. Staudinger

Childhood in Waltershausen (1952–1968)

Staudinger has grown up as a son of the innkeeper Gerhard Staudinger (born April 20, 1923 in Erfurt, † February 3, 1988 in Waltershausen) and his wife Edeltraut (born January 30, 1927 in Wandersleben, † December 11, 2011 in Waltershausen) initially in Schmira near Erfurt and since 1956 in Waltershausen/Thuringia where parents operated the Bayerischer Hof in the Trade Organization Restaurants (in German: HO). The Hotel Welcome in Schmira, still operated as an independent restaurant, the parents gave up in 1956, about the time when his brother Ulrich was born. Their license the parents now had to release and join the HO, otherwise they would not have been allowed to continue to operate their restaurant. The childhood was unburdened. The parents boasted, to have their children “not educated” and gave them what they could. Dispute, however, always was about politics. Mother and father out of the era of National Socialism had pulled teachings and were extremely critical and never loyal to the state of GDR. The flag was not hung out when it was required and the parents never went to the election. Both was a duty in GDR. At cracker-barrel people blasphemed and yet the so-called Stasibosses went in and out in his parent's restaurant because of the good food. Christian W. Staudinger however was thrilled with the idea of Communism, devoured the relevant literature and was an avid drummer of barrel- and, later, marching-drum in the drum-procession-band in Waltershausen, guided by his teacher Otto Müller. The father of his father, Wilhelm Staudinger, was a German nationalist, operating the hotel Welcome in Schmira with his wife Paula. He in the era of National Socialism gave bread and milk to the forced laborers in an amount which was not allowed by the National Socialists. The village teacher betrayed him. He was arrested, tortured on the Petersberg in Erfurt and died a few days later at the consequences. The father of his mother, Phillip Orth was worker at the East German Railroad and co-founder of the Communist Party of Germany in Neudietendorf shortly after the First World War. To protect the family he sent his daughter in the era of National Socialism in the League of German Girls. He remained unmolested and died when Christian W. Staudinger was 16 years old. The brother of the mother's father, Sigmar Orth †, was a liaison officer between the police and the Stasi and contributed much to the excitement of the artist at the building of socialism and his interest in history.

Youth and escape from East Germany (1968–1972)

At age 16, Christian W. Staudinger left home and went to Erfurt, where he began his waiter-apprenticeship after his original career aspirations of the sailor in the merchant navy and, thereafter, the boatman on inland waters had been rejected by the Stasi. The people in GDR needed a permit from the state for their career aspirations. In Erfurt he fell into circles around Eberhard Häfner and others, which discussed passionate about politics and art, listened to the music of the so-called imperialist Staatsfeind and he came in contact with THC and LSD-25. He read Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego and Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud, which he had received from Eberhard Häfner. The new findings he tied into his examination paper for the final examination – then at least an affront. The teacher, Mrs. Richter, expressed her enthusiasm behind her hand, but could not vote because literature of the “State-enemy” had been cited. The day after his practical test, from which he made a parody and therefore he failed, Staudinger went to his escape from East Germany. To his desire to leave his beloved home, emerging and fast growing doubts about the integrity of the system have led. He had read the classics, but all that did not stand a comparison with reality. In addition, he wanted to become a skydiver. He was in the Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik, but in order to jump one had to be in the National People's Army or in the Stasi. The Stasi began to be interested in him and tried to recruit him as part of the OPK (operational checks on persons). He felt honored and loved those discussions with the Stasi officers who at home always encountered violent counter-arguments. But soon the Stasi was tired, wanted names that refused the artist and at the end stand the never-forgotten threat who received many former GDR-citizens in the same wording: “Either you are with us or against us. Join in and out you can be something. If not, you will croak on the machine!”

Christian W. Staudinger 1971 in the age of 18 and together with a friend made on the way to Bulgaria in order to leave the country to Turkey. This way many so-called “Republic-refugees” had chosen, as Stefan Appelius, Professor of Political Science, has researched. Only the brother was informed, in order not to endanger the family. At the Veleka they failed to escape because the maps were false. They came to arrest and torure in the Bulgarian prisons. But he stayed alive, unlike other refugees. The Stasi in Bulgaria stationed brought him back to East Germany, he came into the Stasi prison Andreasstrasse in Erfurt in custody and was sentenced to one year and seven months for his attempt of illegal emigration and anti-state-propaganda, which he served in Cottbus. With the help of the two lawyers Vogel & Stange (one east, one west, and in that times famous in Germany) he came straight from prison to the Federal Republic of Germany. He by a tragic event, unlike many others in the GDR for political offenses convicted, came into possession of at least the copies of the indictment and judgment. The experiences of the flight are published in German as an audio book on YouTube, spoken by Erich Räuker. Shortly before his flight Christian W. Staudinger had fathered a child, of which he only heard in prison as it was already born. He managed to bring mother and child in the way of family reunification to West-Berlin. The West and the events of the recent past ruined everything he had believed, so that he tried to kill himself in 1974 with 250 sleeping pills. From the clinical death the doctors succeeded in his salvation. His brother, Ulrich Staudinger, later was sentenced to 4 years for reportedly subversive propaganda. Released earlier he jumped to death in West-Berlin-subway 1981.

Adult in Berlin (since 1972)

Having found accommodation in the Evangelisches Johannisstift in Berlin pastor Helmut Gwiasda took him under his wing. He let Christian W. Staudinger complete the diaconal basic course. But it drove him on. He went to high school and then studied social pedagogy and philosophy. The own prison experience led him professionally in the prison, where he 1981–1986 in the women's prison in Berlin worked as a group leader with drug-addicted adult women. Severe migraine attacks forced him to give up. He moved to the art and creates since his work. His efforts, to become member of the Professional Association of Visual Artists in Berlin (BBK) failed – he was rejected because he did not want to be reduced to the visual arts. He responded with a public debate in the former Open Channel Berlin – today AlexTV. The connection of art & sport is important to the artist. In 1977 he on Texel/Netherlands completed his training as parachutist and 1992 in DeLand, Florida as jumpmaster.

Artistic career

The first abstract paintings were created when he was no more than ten years old – he called them children's work. Three representational paintings from this period with the titles The LPG, Klaustor and Moon landing were exhibited at school Waltershausen but never returned and have been lost since the change 1989/90. Russian- and drawing-teacher Thiem promoted the artistic talent and looked after the missing talent for foreign languages. Photography and filming was brought close to the artist by his father, who was enthusiastic amateur photographer and early produced – with modest technology standard – Super 8 films, so that the childhood of the artist is well documented. Staudinger sold the first pictures at school and accumulated in this way a good pocket money, managed by the mother – a part of which he burned in the context of his first performance outside the Theater of Friendship in Waltershausen. In his school the artist was from 5th to the 10th grade in the Committee Film in the Theater of Friendship. In 1968 he created his first poems. The illegal West-TV in the parental household brought Christian W. Staudinger to the enthusiasm at Joseph Beuys and in contact with in the GDR banned authors like Erich Fromm, Sigmund Freud, Laozi, Nietzsche, C.G. Jung and others.

In 1980 he moved to his first and still tiny painting-studio in Berlin. He worked initially self-taught and was again, as in childhood, a bookworm. In 1981, shortly after the beginning of his work in the prison, he at the former so called Landesbildstelle Berlin made a video course and applied thereafter for the first time at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). Also another application was unsuccessful. In 1983 he founded the publishing company Zwielicht and published his two, now resulting volumes of poetry: Zustände eines Grenzverletzers and Über mir bin Es. In the same year he took part first and from there to its end every year at the Free Berlin Art Exhibition (in German FBK) under leadership of Ernst Leonhardt – almost without a trace in the World Wide Web, with one exception. He was member of the group of artists Blindflug which was led by Norbert Wirth. Later he joined the FBK as an individual artist.

In 1986 the main occupation as an artist begun and the participation in the Open Channel Berlin – today AlexTV. In the following 8 years, there have been numerous artistic projects, first performances and the development of conceptual art. Some videos were posted on the Hamburg short-film-festival, while others were presented at the Tokyo International Film Festival, including Die Mutter, Revolution and Heimat. In 1994, Christian W. Staudinger took part in the Artistic Competition Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and started at the Free Art School in Berlin (FKB) his studies of screen printing and sculpture, which he later continued with Peter Rosenzweig in Campo dell'Altissimo. In 2005 he stood as a witness for injustice in GDR at the former in Erfurt, Hildigund Neubert. This led to an artistic action in his former cell in the Stasi prison Andreasstrasse in Erfurt. In the meantime he moved twice with his painting-studio to larger ones, and two sculptor-studios in Berlin and Waltershausen were established. In 2007 he presented to the public the results of his 10-year dispute with Nazism and Adolf Hitler under the title Adolf Hitler 007 – under police protection, but except a small event announcement muted by the media. 2008 his dispute with the second German dictatorship in times of GDR began under the title Prison & Torture in Bulgaria and the GDR. Two exhibitions were the outcome in 2014 in Erfurt, one in the former prison and one in Speicher/Erfurt. Last not least there are plans for a ArtHouse Waltershausen in the house of parents in Thuringia.

Artistic works

The artistic work includes paintings in different styles, formats and techniques, drawings, collages, etchings, crayon, silkscreen, watercolors and BookArt – i.e. drawings that are created when reading in books and influenced by what is read. There are also sculptures, statuettes and applied art, as well as installation art and assemblages. A large room takes, just lately, the political art using their confrontation with the two German dictatorships. There is an extensive archive with conceptual art and some in the field Land art under the title Stones of the Earth. The work includes natural and artificial Photos, as well as poetry & postcards. The video works often accompanies other artistic projects by Christian W. Staudinger and documents them or show accompanying performances. The covers for DVDs are designed and manufactured by hand. Lately they are, often greatly reduced, posted on his YouTube channel.

Books

Filmography

All short videos up to 2011 were published in full-length (40–120 min.) in the Open Channel Berlin (OKB, today AlexTV).
Cutouts:

Exhibitions

Cutouts:

Performances

Cutouts: