It is the beginning of the 1990s in eastern Germany, the phase of major transformation after the tumbling of the Berlin Wall. The 30-year-old East Berlin photographer Jürgen Hohmuth sets out to document this period of upheaval. He travels through villages and towns to record the freedoms achieved, the new consumer opportunities but also the standstill in many enterprises.
A child on a bicycle, young men in a battered car, banners on house façades: snapshots of life we can encounter almost anytime and anywhere. These habitual scenes do not immediately suggest a time of radical change. With his camera he chronicles the traces of change as reflected in everyday occurrences. He captures the fundamental transformations in public life, the working world and the family life.
Angermünde, Berlin, Halle-Neustadt or Leipzig: His work conveys a deep feeling for the atmosphere of daily life in eastern Germany and thus resembles a collective photo album. Even today he confronts us with the question: Is there normality in times of radical change?
The exhibition presents these photographs of Jürgen Hohmuth for the first time. The photos are supplemented by an audio trail with recollections of the turbulent period by eastern German authors, including Peter Richter, Kathrin Schmidt and Ingo Schulze. The audio track is available via smartphone in the museum's Wi-Fi. Please bring your own headphones.
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