Hacks Jahrbuch 2024

In the 1960s, Peter Hacks developed his concept of socialist classicism. It was based on the assumption that the revolution in the GDR was complete and that art was thus relieved of directly operational functions. After the end of the GDR, Hacks did not change his mind, but remained a defender of socialism, not of an unattained ideal, but of real attempts to take steps towards communism. The direct contemporary relevance of his works became increasingly clear during this period, while the artistic means became both sparser and more pointed. The 16th Scientific Conference of the Peter Hacks Society is dedicated to the fifteen or so years that lie between these two phases of his work and which have so far been more difficult to conceptualise, with articles by Jürgen Pelzer, Lukas Meisner, Ella Wengerowa, Ralf Meyer and Kai Köhler and others.