Readings IN DIALOGUE
Tickets
A literary series to accompany the exhibition
Monthly readings will take place to accompany the current exhibition IN DIALOGUE — Hasso Plattner Collection: Art from the GDR, inviting visitors to engage in a literary examination of the GDR and its critical resonance in the present day.
Building upon the exhibition’s idea of bringing works by GDR artists into dialogue in order to illuminate different perspectives, authors will offer insights from literature, explore new narratives, and place the stories about the GDR in a contemporary context.
Renowned authors such as Charlotte Gneuß, Carolin Würfel, Annett Gröschner, Peggy Mädler, Wenke Seemann, Paula Fürstenberg, and Peggy Kurka present their books in a variety of ways.
The readings take place once a month in Café Hedwig or in the foyer of DAS MINSK. The event ticket includes a visit to the exhibition from 5 PM. The events are in German.
Peggy Kurka © Anna Kuen
June 11, 2025, 7 PM
Peggy Kurka: Das blaue Kind: Meine Geschichte als Schwarze Deutsche, 2023
A musical reading performance with and by Peggy Kurka and pianist Rubin Henkel
In her book Das blaue Kind, Peggy Kurka recalls the formative stages of her life in ten chapters. She describes observations about origin and identity and examines social images that determine belonging and the “norm.”
Against the backdrop of her own experiences, she sheds light on aspects of a white majority society that have a significant impact on individual biographies through structural racism and learned mechanisms of exclusion. She questions traditional value systems and belief patterns and pleads for more humanity and love.
Peggy Kurka’s writing style is rhythmic, almost musical. While working on her first book, Das blaue Kind, Kurka was inspired by the music of the German-Canadian composer Rubin Henkel. Day after day, the works of Kurka and Henkel merged without them knowing each other. The two artists, coming from different disciplines, met and discovered similarities in their forms of expression. Together, they found a new form of language and sound. The evening at MINSK also allows Kurka’s texts to be experienced through Henkel’s piano compositions.
Together with Patricia Vester, Peggy Kurka will speak about her childhood in the GDR, her artistic work, self-empowerment, and attaining sovereignty of interpretation over her own history.
Peggy Kurka
Peggy Kurka is an internationally sought-after hair and make-up artist and author. She grew up in the GDR, worked as a model at the GDR Fashion Institute, and appeared in runaway shows at the Palast der Republik. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, she lived in London, Paris, and finally Hamburg. In 2019, Peggy Kurka was involved in the exhibition Black Image Corporation at the Gropius Bau in Berlin.
Das blaue Kind is her first book and was published by Bastei Lübbe.
Rubin Henkel
Rubin is a German-Canadian composer for film and media. He began playing the piano at the age of six and sang as a soprano in the Cologne Cathedral Choir. He composed his own piano pieces at an early age and later professionalized his improvisational talent at the Jazzhouse School in Cologne. In his debut album Ruhe, he collected his first melodies—recorded with an old compact camera, various iPods, and sound recording devices—and reinterpreted them in his Berlin studio, weaving them into a reflection on his childhood. Rubin’s music can be heard in documentaries as well as short and feature films. He is currently exploring new approaches to music in sound installations and, for the species conservation project FERMATA, is working with the impulses of plant species in order to translate them into piano compositions.
Rubin Henkel © Silke Lapina
Patricia Vester
Patricia Vester was born and grew up in Potsdam. As a graphic artist and illustrator, she creates illustrations for various anti-racist, migrant, and ecopolitical projects. Her experience as a Black German has shaped and sharpened her political consciousness. With her work, she supports, among other things, Black communities and sociopolitical projects in Brandenburg.
Patricia Vester works as a diversity trainer and develops educational and mediation concepts that critically engage with racism. She advises and facilitates processes related to colonial contexts in museum practices and develops artistic-creative teaching methods.