BERLIN.- Andrea Pichl's solo exhibition "Values of Economy" at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart explores the economic exchange between East and West Germany (GDR and FRG) during and after the period of division. The exhibition’s architectural intervention examines the relationship between decoration and political power, as well as the effects of the fall of the GDR dictatorship in 1989/90 and unification with the FRG. A monumental curtain divides the Kleihueshalle in two halves, each of which contains four walk-in black sculptures in the form of bungalows. Inside, visitors encounter the exhibition's themes through Pichl's drawings, projections, and objects.
Pichl’s work examines norms and standards in everyday architecture, reflecting on the social ideas embedded within these structures. The exhibition title refers to Joseph Beuys' work series "Wirtschaftswerte" (Economic Values) starting in the mid-1970s, which used food and household items largely sourced from East Germany. Pichl's architectural intervention in the Kleihueshalle references the bungalows that West Germans could order from Genex Geschenkdienst GmbH catalogs for friends and relatives in East Germany. This mail-order service, initiated by the East German government in 1956 and later assigned to the Commercial Coordination division, was a means to acquire much-needed foreign currency for the socialist planned economy.
Each of the four bungalows serves as a cabinet for more of Pichl’s works. In one, a photograph printed on concrete depicts employees of the GDR’s Ministry for State Security practicing yoga, while another features drawings of details from Stasi Minister Erich Mielke’s office and residential facades in the Waldsiedlung Wandlitz, a community for high-ranking officials who helped establish the GDR's surveillance state. Pichl's emphasis on the banality of these motifs stands in stark contrast to the crimes committed by their inhabitants and the power they exercised.
The other two bungalows focus on residents’ adaptation of modular buildings. The video projection “Zeitgeist” (2014) presents details of housing estates which are devoid of people. Signs of life are revealed only by added decorative elements, makeshift constructions, or graffiti. Though subtle, these interventions reflect the appropriation and characterization of these spaces by their current inhabitants. Pichl’s drawing series “Häuser” (Houses) (2017) and “Dogmen” (2022) focus on house facades and are displayed on wallpaper designed by the artist, inspired by Genex catalog motifs. She also references wartime makeshift shelters for families left homeless by bombings in the closing years of WWII, which resemble the Genex bungalows. Both types of buildings symbolize the dream of a private home and a middle-class idyll.
The floor-to-ceiling curtain "Lasst Blumen sprechen" (Let Flowers Speak) (2024) divides the exhibition space and is made from second-hand curtains from the GDR that Pichl sourced from private sellers online. In addition to goods for the local market and Eastern Bloc, the GDR also produced textiles for West German companies capitalizing on its low wages. After unification, the Treuhandanstalt (Trust Agency) was tasked with privatizing state-owned companies, leading to the closure or sale of many textile firms, with substantial job losses especially among women.
Detached from their original contexts, Pichl (born 1964 in the former GDR, lives and works in Berlin) poses critical questions through decorations, objects, and spaces: What human image and societal ideals are embedded in them? What do the tastes of a particular era reveal? What ideologies and norms are echoed in ornaments and buildings? Where do invisible structures like state authority, capital flow, and historical shifts manifest? When does the public end and private life begin, and when does a utopian vision turn dystopian?
Since September 2024, Hamburger Bahnhof has displayed Pichl’s site- specific installation "Palimpsest" as a permanent loan at the Bundesfinanzministerium in Berlin, addressing the complex history of the building.
In commemoration of the transformative events of 1989/90, the Symposium "The West Did Not Have to Arrive in the East!" will be held on Friday, November 8, and Saturday, November 9, 2024, at Hamburger Bahnhof, marking the 35th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall. Admission is free; no registration is required.
On Thursday, February 13, 2025, at 7 PM, a concert will be held by the music group Ornament & Verbrechen, founded by Robert and Ronald Lippok. On Saturday, March 15, 2025, at 3 PM, an artist talk with Andrea Pichl, moderated by Sven Beckstette, will take place. Admission is free; no registration required. For more information, visit [www.smb.museum/hbf](http://www.smb.museum/hbf).
Following Naama Tsabar's solo exhibition (April 12 – September 22, 2024), Pichl’s show is the second contemporary presentation displayed alongside the permanent Joseph Beuys exhibition in the Kleihueshalle at Hamburger Bahnhof.
An accompanying catalog, published by Silvana Editoriale Milano, includes texts by Sven Beckstette, Peter Richter, and a conversation with Andrea Pichl and is available for 12 Euros.
The exhibition is curated by Sven Beckstette, Research Associate, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.
