Vagant Orient (Orient Drifters)
Multimedia essay, 2026
In Vagant Orient, Anna Bromley explores the intertwining cultural and trade relations between the GDR and the SWANA- Region by departing from a missing series of photographs taken by her father. He shot them in the 1970s in North African and South Asian cities and showed them in slide presentations at cultural centers in and around East Berlin.
Bromley’s father, an engineer for the heavy machinery combine Ernst Thälman (SKET), was a so called “travel cadre” – one of the few GDR citizens authorized to travel the West for the Export of steel mills – foremost to the non-aligned countries, which were key for the GDR`s diplomatic recognition. Thus, the GDR`s cultural authorities sent artists especially to the Non-Aligned. Like Werner Schinko, who travelled to Syria in the mid-1960`s.
Bromley’s artistic research traces Schinko’s two trips to Syria including his drawings, photographs and recordings shot on cine film. In her sound and video installation, she puts documents and pieces from his estate in dialogue with similar materials from the estate of her father, who worked in Syria, among other countries, ten years after Schinko.
The video sequences are composed of materials on loan from Barbara, Michael, and Wolfgang Schinko from the estate of the artist Werner Schinko, as well as from the estate of heavy-duty machinery engineer Fritz Lange. They are further informed by conversations with philosopher Nisaar Ulama and arts and media scholar Hala Ghoname.
Multimedia essay, 2026
In Vagant Orient, Anna Bromley explores the intertwining cultural and trade relations between the GDR and the SWANA- Region by departing from a missing series of photographs taken by her father. He shot them in the 1970s in North African and South Asian cities and showed them in slide presentations at cultural centers in and around East Berlin.
Bromley’s father, an engineer for the heavy machinery combine Ernst Thälman (SKET), was a so called “travel cadre” – one of the few GDR citizens authorized to travel the West for the Export of steel mills – foremost to the non-aligned countries, which were key for the GDR`s diplomatic recognition. Thus, the GDR`s cultural authorities sent artists especially to the Non-Aligned. Like Werner Schinko, who travelled to Syria in the mid-1960`s.
Bromley’s artistic research traces Schinko’s two trips to Syria including his drawings, photographs and recordings shot on cine film. In her sound and video installation, she puts documents and pieces from his estate in dialogue with similar materials from the estate of her father, who worked in Syria, among other countries, ten years after Schinko.
The video sequences are composed of materials on loan from Barbara, Michael, and Wolfgang Schinko from the estate of the artist Werner Schinko, as well as from the estate of heavy-duty machinery engineer Fritz Lange. They are further informed by conversations with philosopher Nisaar Ulama and arts and media scholar Hala Ghoname.
Four parts and one epilogue: 12:50, 21:05, 10:50, 14:09, 7:48
Narrative voice, concept, and editing: Anna Bromley
Expert interview with: Hala Ghoname
Essay “The Last Raree Show of Damascus”: Nisaar Ulama
Voice-over for Hala Ghoname: Anja Dreischmeier
Cinematography and camera: Michael Fesca
Color grading: Fabiana Cardalda.
Sound design and mixing: Ivonne Sheen Mogollón
Sound design and mixing: Ivonne Sheen Mogollón
Video post-production support: Paul Groebel, Media Workshop | kulturwerk bbk Berlin
Audio post-production support: Manfred Miersch, Media Workshop | kulturwerk bbk Berlin
Translations: Moira Barrett
Print duplicate: Michel Küpper, KHM Photography Laboratory, Cologne
Commissioned by ifa – Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations and Kunsthaus Dresden for the exhibitions “Produktive Unruhe” at the robotron Kantine in Dresden (May 21–July 26, 2026) and for the exhibition “Rauschen” at the ifa Gallery in Berlin (June 26–September 27, 2026). Curatorial directors: Susanne Weiß (for the ifa Gallery), Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz ( for Kunsthaus Dresden).
Kind support by:
Wüstenrot-Foundation
Kunstfonds Germany
Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin
Academy for Media Art, Cologne
Special thanks to: Michael Fesca, Hala Ghoname, Michael, Barbara and Wolfgang Schinko, Max Trecker, Lilian Haberer, Susanne Weiß, the ifa-Gallery team, the Kunsthaus Dresden team, and the team of the Media Workshop at the bbk Berlin.
Image: Installation view (cardboard version) at the ifa Gallery Berlin, photographed by Victoria Tomaschko
Image: Installation view (wooden version) at the robotron Kantine Dresden (2026) by Anja Schneider.
Exhibition views: „Produktive Unruhe“ (Productive Unrest), Kunsthaus Dresden in der robotron-Kantine.
Exhibition views: "Rauschen: Echoes of an Institution", ifa Gallery Berlin. The exhibition at the ifa Gallery Berlin marks the launch and is the second part of the ifa exhibition series "Making Public – On the Work and Legacy of the Centre for Art Exhibitions of the GDR" in Berlin.
