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, moderated by Maria-Christina Piwowarski, 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.
Philipp Baumgarten © Thora Preuss
July 23, 2025, 7 PM
Philipp Baumgarten/Annekathrin Kohout (Ed.): Ostflimmern. Wir Wende-Millennials, 2024
An illustrated reading with the publishers
Prefabricated housing estates, unrecognizable monuments and cheap discount stores: Philipp Baumgarten’s photographs have inspired renowned authors to describe their experiences in the post-reunification period. Their voices provide insight into a generation whose East German background often seems like a phantom pain and is still present today in the mirror of the “West German gaze.” As children of the 1990s, shaped by industrial wasteland on the one hand and US pop culture and global digital modernity on the other, they take a critical but also indulgent look at their childhood and the time since reunification. The photographs, poems, short stories and essays paint a picture of the present-day feelings of a generation torn between East and West in search of its own identity. (Mitteldeutscher Verlag publishing house)
During the event, editors Philipp Baumgarten and Annekathrin Kohout will read selected texts by various authors. Together with Anna-Maria Piwowarski, they will talk about childhood memories between GDR liquidation and US pop culture, the feeling of losing one’s homeland and places of longing in the past. The reading will be accompanied by a presentation of photographs by Philipp Baumgarten.
Philipp Baumgarten
Philipp Baumgarten, born 1985 in Zeitz, is a freelance artist, publisher and cultural manager. He studied media production and history of art. Co-founder of the cultural and educational center “Kloster Posa” in Zeitz, where he was also artistic director until 2020. In his work, he deals with the transformative consequences in rural areas of eastern Germany. In 2023, he received the Georg-Christoph-Biller-Prize for his work.
Annekathrin Kohout
Annekathrin Kohout, born 1989 in Weida, is a freelance author. She studied German language and literature, art studies, media theory and photography and received her doctorate in 2021. Co-editor of the book series “Digitale Bildkulturen” and the magazine “POP. Culture and Critique” and guest lecturer. In her work, she deals with the aesthetics and theories of pop and popular culture, social media and contemporary art. She has published books on net feminism, nerds and K-Pop.
Annekathrin Kohout © Neven Allgeier
Maria-Christina Piwowarski © Andreas Schmidt
Short biography Maria-Christina Piwowarski
Maria-Christina Piwowarski was born in Haldensleben in 1982 and grew up in a small village in the Magdeburger Börde. She is a trained bookseller and most recently managed the Berlin bookshop ocelot. Together with Ludwig Lohmann, she has been running the blauschwarzberlin literature podcast since 2019, which has been broadcast as a livestream from the Staatsbibliothek Berlin since the fall. She moderates readings and events in the cultural sector and writes. In fall 2024, she published the anthology Und ich - 20 Geschichten von Wendepunkten des Lebens.