Book launch: »Platte OST / WEST. Living and Building in Large-Panel Construction
Catalogue accompanying the special exhibition
Presentation of the exhibition catalogue for the exhibition ‘PLATTE OST / WEST. Living and Building in the Large-Panel Construction Method’
The book contains seven essays that examine the development of prefabricated panel construction in East and West Germany from architectural, historical and social perspectives.
The publication is part of the series published by the Baukunstarchiv NRW, which will also be hosting the exhibition ‘Platte Ost/West’.
The editors are Markus Lehrmann, Claudia Quiring and Wolfgang Sonne.
An event organised by the Dresden City Museum in cooperation with the Baukunstarchiv NRW
Record frustration: From GDR submissions to rap and riots after 1990
A discussion with Prof. Johannes Schütz and Nils Werner, featuring film clips
Once sought-after as modern housing, life in these housing estates was shaped by the bureaucratic economy of scarcity in the GDR and, later, by the profound upheavals of the post-reunification era.
This event examines the drastic change in the image of East German housing estates. We look at the GDR’s official ‘culture of petitioning’ – citizens’ attempts to rectify the shortcomings of everyday life through written complaints – and the period after 1990. At that time, frustration over dashed hopes and a lack of prospects often gave rise to a new dynamic, a radicalisation, particularly among young people. Why was this the case?
PD Dr Johannes Schütz works as a contemporary historian at TU Dresden and at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History (ZZF) in Potsdam. His research focuses on everyday culture in the late GDR and the emergence of racist structures of violence during the period of transformation in East Germany. Most recent publication: Heimat als soziale Praxis. Alltagshandeln in Sachsen zwischen Staatssozialismus und Umbruchserfahrungen, 1969–2000, Bielefeld 2026.
Nils Werner works as a freelance director and screenwriter. In documentary film projects for ARD and MDR, such as the award-winning production»Generation Crash – Wir Ost-Millennials’ or the historical reconstruction ‘Hoyerswerda ’91’, he documents the life experiences of young people in East Germany following the social upheaval.
Fig.: Still from the documentary “Generation Crash” – A cinematic search for traces with the rapper and author (“Nullerjahre”) Hendrik Bolz in his former neighbourhood of Knieper West in Stralsund
Presentation of the photographic documentary ‘Gorbitz’ by Christine Starke
Book launch at the special exhibition
Photographer Christine Starke presents her 1989 photo album on the Gorbitz new-build estate.
The work documents a residential building through medium-format black-and-white photographs. The album is notable for its elaborate design, featuring a variety of fold-out sections that guide the viewer’s gaze from the outside in and from the basement to the roof. The photographs depict the architecture, the residents and their living environment in what was then a newly built housing complex.
The photo album is currently on display in the special exhibition ‘Platte Ost / West’; it will be taken out of the display case for the event.
About the photographer:
Christine Starke (born in 1951 in Dresden) has been working as a freelance photographer since 1985, specialising in portrait, documentary and architectural photography.
- Museum admission