I’ve Seen the Wall: Louis Armstrong on Tour in the GDR 1965

Jazz’s journey to the GDR: artists reflect on Louis Armstrong’s musical ambassadorship, civil rights and the Cold War

In 1965, still at the height of the Cold War, legendary African American jazz musician Louis Armstrong became the first US musician to go on tour in the GDR. Taking this historic event as a starting point, this volume accompanies an exhibition at Das Minsk in Potsdam, Germany, which examines the ambivalence of Armstrong’s official invitation against the backdrop of the American civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and the Iron Curtain in Europe. I’ve Seen the Wall gathers paintings, photographs, archival material and installations by Terry Adkins, Louis Armstrong, Pina Bausch, Norman Lewis, Glenn Ligon, Gordon Parks, Adrian Piper, Evelyn Richter, Lorna Simpson, Andy Warhol, Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and others, which offer diverse perspectives on the role of art in the tension between political systems and examine the complex relationship between jazz and racism.