50 years ago, a handful of artists declared the former socialist showcase city of Chemnitz/Karl-Marx-Stadt an avant-garde happening zone. Whether silent performances or plein airs by the sea, exuberant artists' festivals or cold needle etched collective works - the Clara Mosch artists' group and the cooperatively organized Galerie Oben have proven since the 1970s that art in the GDR can be free and is in no way inferior to Western models.