Wohnkomplex: Art and Life in Plattenbau

In fall 2025, DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam will present the exhibition Wohnkomplex: Art and Life in Plattenbau. In this exhibition, guest curator Kito Nedo explores the question of how East German Plattenbau complexes are represented in art.

Wohnkomplex shows approximately fifty works by artists such as Karl-Heinz Adler, Sibylle Bergemann, Kurt Dornis, Markus Draper, Seiichi Furuya, Peter Herrmann, Sebastian Jung, Gisela Kurkhaus-Müller, Harald Metzkes, Sabine Moritz, Henrike Naumann, Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani, Manfred Pernice, Uwe Pfeifer, Sonya Schönberger, Nathalie Valeska Schüler, Wenke Seemann, Robert Seidel, Christian Thoelke, Stephen Willats, Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, and others.

Installations, paintings, drawings, photographs, and films created since the 1970s will be presented. In the exhibition, Kito Nedo gathers works that approach the Plattenbau in various ways—as a living space, as a symbol of social utopias, and as a projection of societal changes. The Plattenbau is not only viewed as architectural heritage, but also as a cultural space of resonance that raises questions about belonging, community, and memory. The exhibition intertwines artistic works with sociopolitical issues and reflects on how urban spaces influence both social structures and ways of life.

Wohnkomplex opens new perspectives on a model of building and living that continues to resonate today. The Plattenbau was originally at the heart of GDR social policy, a place of socialization and a symbol of real socialist progress—until 1990. After the fall of the GDR, it became a stage for painful transformations, emblematic of social decline and racist violence. As modern ruins, the buildings awaited demolition, were renovated, or repurposed. The Plattenbau never became a monument, but has remained a living presence. It is a place of GDR memory, where life continues.
 

Uwe Pfeifer, Durchgang in Halle-Neustadt [Passageway in Halle-Neustadt], 1971. BLMK Collection, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025, Photo: Thomas Kläber