The history of the two Germanys, the Federal and the socialist German Democratic Republic, is the raw material of Andrea Pichl’s artistic practice: born in the GDR in 1964, Pichl grew up in the self-proclaimed „workers’ and farmers’ state“ and explores the manifold linkages between the two states. In her current exhibition „deutsch deutsch“ at Kunsthalle Vogelmann the inconspicuous facades of small standard houses hide criminal and downright inhumane stories embedded in the states’ network of relationships.
The houses themselves already allude to history’s continuing influence as they are in many ways related to German history: one is a replica of a shelter designed by Ernst Neufert for the NS regime, the second a reconstruction of a GDR hut West-Germans could order for their relatives in the GDR from GENEX, a company set up to funnel foreign exchange into the socialist state, and the third is a popular garden shed offered by the market leading DIY company OBI in reunited Germany. On the inside they reveal even more complex links: Pichl’s installations unfold the economic entanglements of West and East Germany, capitalist foreign countries and the GDR and show that e.g. the Hoheneck Women’s Prison forced its inmates to produce sofas for Ikea. The West-German mail order companies Quelle and Neckermann in turn had dolls produced in the GDR in exchange for valuta, a lucrative trade that was hidden from customers.
Alongside the exhibition Snoeck published the present catalogue that, beyond containing a visual documentation of the exhibition, enlarges upon her work and the artistic research underpinning it: while Doreen Mende describes Pichl’s metabolic research that finds expression in her works, Carsten Probst emphasizes Pichl’s ability to uncover the hidden strands of history that open up new perspectives on the history and entanglements of the two German states.
The latter also is the major takeaway from both exhibition and catalogue: Andrea Pichl dissects German-German history, shows that neither state had a moral high ground and ultimately translates these finding into fascinating, multidimensional installations that trigger a profound reflection process.
