Podcast - 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall
Long-term photographic observations

9 November 2024 marks the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Together with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Kingdom of Belgium, the Goethe-Institut Brussels is celebrating this anniversary as part of the Europanetzwerk Deutsch with an exhibition based on long-term photographic observations by photographers Ditmar Schädel and Klaus Dierßen. Both artists photographed situations in the former GDR and documented the external and internal changes. Julian Hale, alumnus of the Europanetzwerk Deutsch, had the opportunity to talk to photographer Ditmar Schädel and guests about the photographs shown in the exhibition during the vernissage.
 

‘They had to completely reinvent themselves’

Podcast on the exhibition ‘35 Mauerfall - Fotografische Langzeitbeobachtungen’

We are in November 2024 - 35 years after the fall of the Wall in 1989, the end of the Iron Curtain and the beginning of a reunified Germany. Klaus Dierßen and Ditmar Schädel, two West German photographers, as true ‘Wessis’ barely knew the GDR, apart from a few transit journeys to Berlin. After the opening of the German-German border, they quickly decided to visit various locations in East Germany.

In 1990, they began to photograph shops and street situations in places close to the German-German border and far away from the major events in Berlin - such as Quedlinburg, Wernigerode, Sangerhausen and Magdeburg - at intervals from identical perspectives in order to document the impressive external changes of this period. This gave rise to the ‘DANACH UND DANACH’ project. The photographs are neither to be understood as advertising for the upswing in the East nor as picturesque images full of nostalgia and morbidity. DANACH UND DANACH was honoured with the Kodak Photo Book Award.

In 1994/95, they went one step further with a series of six black-and-white photographs entitled ‘Angesehen in Ostdeutschland’ (Viewed in East Germany) and portrayed 20 unknown people from the new federal states - a petrol station owner, a dog hairdresser or a cashier, for example - in their everyday lives. They conducted interviews with these people, who over time grew to trust the photographers from the West and talked to them about their biographical backgrounds, their current business and personal situation and their own views on the changes. The interweaving of text and image provides a multi-layered insight into the lives of these people - their wishes, hopes and disappointments can be experienced in a differentiated way through this photo project.

Julian Hale, British-Belgian journalist and alumnus of the Europanetzwerk Deutsch programme, interviewed Ditmar Schädel and guests at the vernissage about the exhibition, the importance of photography in challenging times and their experiences. A conversation full of personal insights - listen for yourself!

The podcast was produced by: Julian Hale (concept and interviews) and Camille Van den Berg (editing).

The exhibition can be seen until 29 November 2024, from Monday to Friday, 9:00 - 18:00 at the Press Club Brussels Europe- 95, Rue Froissart, 1040 Brussels.