The selection of works from the Artothek's holdings conveys a multifaceted picture of West Berlin, that fragile entity which, as an island in the middle of the "Red Sea" of the "Soviet Zone," formed a kind of exclave of the Federal Republic as a showcase for the free world.
Image gallery
Berlin, the engine of Germany's industrialization, urbanization and modernization before World War II, led only a shadowy existence after 1945 as a halved frontline city of the Cold War. Here, in contrast to West Germany, the scars and traces of history were still visible for a long time.
The exhibition is divided into a prologue and five stations. It spans from the post-war period with its pictures of ruins and the vision of a Berlin by the sea to the fall of the Wall and the end of the Cold War. It shows how the artists here left the dead end of abstraction behind and new forms of realism emerged in the self-help gallery Großgörschen 35.
Alongside the painters of Berlin's neighborhoods, the urban photographers discover the poetry of the streets and squares as well as hidden inner worlds. The panorama of the half-city from over 50 years recalls magical places and urban wastelands that have disappeared and shows the dynamics of change.
- Curator of the exhibition: Dr. Eckhart Gillen
Additional information
Admission is free.
