Readings
Tickets
A literary series to accompany the exhibition
Monthly readings will accompany the current exhibition Wohnkomplex: Art and Life in Plattenbau, inviting visitors to engage in a literary exploration of architecture, prefabricated buildings in the GDR, and their critical reflection in the present day.
Picking up on the exhibition’s question of how East German Plattenbau complexes are addressed in visual art, authors provide literary inspiration, explore new narratives, and situate stories about life in prefabricated buildings in the GDR within a contemporary context.
Renowned authors such as Katja Oskamp, Florentine Anders, Hendrik Bolz, and Grit Lemke 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.
Dates:
September 18, 2025, 7 pm
Katja Oskamp, Marzahn mon Amour. Geschichten einer Fußpflegerin, 2019, Hanser Berlin
October 17, 2025, 7 pm
Florentine Anders, Die Allee, 2025, Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch
November 20, 2025, 7 pm
Hendrik Bolz Nullerjahre. Jugend in blühenden Landschaften, 2022, Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch
December 10, 2025, 7 pm
Grit Lemke Kinder von Hoy. Freiheit, Glück und Terror", 2021, Suhrkamp
Katja Oskamp, Photo: Mathias Bothor
September 18, 2025
7 PM
Katja Oskamp, Marzahn mon Amour. Geschichten einer Fußpflegerin, 2019 (Hanser Berlin)
Katja Oskamp is in her mid-forties when her life becomes dull. Her child has left home, her husband is ill, and the writing she has devoted herself to until now is a field of disappointment. So, she does something that would be considered a failure by others: she becomes a pedicurist in Berlin-Marzahn, once the largest prefabricated housing estate in the GDR. And she writes down what she hears there—stories like that of Mr. Paulke, one of the first residents of the neighborhood forty years ago, Mrs. Guse, who is retreating from the world in reverse, or Mr. Pietsch, the former official with the checkered flat cap. (Hanser Berlin)
Oskamp’s autobiographically inspired novel is an impressive account of the urban microcosm of Marzahn, in which the prejudices about this Berlin neighborhood are both confirmed and questioned. Her stories are small milieu studies—individual portraits, humorous, affectionate, and melancholic. With warmth and wit, Oskamp unfolds a social novel and depicts life in a prefabricated housing estate as a mosaic of characters, each with their own unique stories.
The author reads from her novel and talks to Maria-Christina Piwowarski about how it came about, her unusual career change, and her experiences as a “writing” podiatrist in an East German Plattenbau complex.
The book, which won the Dublin Literary Award, has since been adapted for film by DEGETO and is available as a six-part miniseries on ARD Mediathek since March 2025.