Special exhibition at the Museum in the Kulturbrauerei
In the decade before the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification, an equally energetic heavy metal scene developed in the GDR, which orientated itself towards the West and was viewed with suspicion by the SED regime.
Image gallery
Heavy Metal-Band "Asathor" im Jugendclub der Bauarbeiter in Magdeburg
Heavy Metal in der DDR - Plakat zur Ausstellung
The exhibition "Heavy Metal in the GDR" takes a look at the everyday lives of fans and bands: leather jackets and studded bracelets, guitars and records tell the story of music and youth culture in the GDR in the 1980s.
Several media stations with contemporary film material and interviews with contemporary witnesses bring the stories to life.
The cohesion of the heavy metal scene, for example at concerts, is just as much a topic as the challenges faced by the rather apolitical "metalheads" in dealing with the SED regime. Harassment and surveillance by the Stasi were part of everyday life. However, with the increasing success of bands and radio programmes such as "Tendenz Hard bis Heavy" on the youth station DT64, heavy metal was increasingly tolerated and the scene was given more freedom.
What happened to the scene after 1989/90? And what remains of heavy metal in the GDR? The exhibition takes a look at everyday life in East Germany in the 1990s and 2000s and follows the heavy metal scene through upheavals, extremes and revitalisation right up to the present day.
Various interactive stations in the exhibition invite visitors to discover and try things out: Visitors can immerse themselves in musical masterpieces in a soundproof booth. A photo point gives fans the opportunity to immortalise themselves as Motörhead stars. Visitors can share their own heavy metal stories at the replica bar of a heavy metal pub.
Exhibition period: 19.03.2024 to 09.02.2025
Admission free!
Location: Museum in the Kulturbrauerei
Knaackstraße 97
10435 Berlin
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday
Tuesday to Friday
09:00 - 18:00
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays
10:00 - 18:00
