Deutsches Haus at NYU presents the opening of “Harald Hauswald: Life in East Germany,” an exhibition of Harald Hauswald’s photographic work, curated by photographer Martin Schoeller. Harald Hauswald is one of the most important East German photographers who captured the everyday reality of life in the German Democratic Republic in the late 1970s and 80s with empathy, humor, and precision. The exhibition provides an unembellished look at what life in East Germany looked like before the fall of the Berlin Wall, juxtaposing an often ironic view of the public sphere with intimate glimpses at the private and inner worlds of the GDR’s citizens.

A self-proclaimed “chronicler of the East,” Hauswald was constantly observing the system, which in turn was surveilling him. From 1978 until the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hauswald was under constant surveillance by the Stasi, and the contents of his Stasi file are included in this exhibition, highlighting the powerful ways in which Hauswald’s images created an unofficial counter archive to dominant state-propagated ideology and narratives.

The exhibition opening will be held on November 13, and will include an artist talk between Harald Hauswald and Martin Schoeller. The exhibition will remain on view through January 16, 2025.

About the photographer:

Harald Hauswald was born in Radebeul, Saxony. After completing an apprenticeship as a photographer, he moved to East Berlin in 1977. His social interests and artistic ambition quickly made him one of the most important photographers in East Germany. He was the first GDR photographer to publish photo reports under an anonymous name in West German magazines such as GEO, Zeitmagazin, and Taz. In 1989, Harald Hauswald was accepted into the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR (VBK) and in 1990, he co-founded the OSTKREUZ agency with six other East German photographers. Harald Hauswald is the recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and is a respected German photographer with more than 250 solo exhibitions throughout Germany, the U.S., France, Italy, and the Netherlands, whose work about East Berlin has been highlighted in many publications. His images from the period before reunification have influenced the perception of the German Democratic Republic and shaped how East Berlin is remembered.

About the curator:

Martin Schoeller is one of the world’s preeminent contemporary portrait photographers. He is most known for his extreme close-up portraits, a series in which familiar faces are treated with the same scrutiny as the unfamous. The stylistic consistency of this work creates a democratic platform for comparison between his subjects, challenging a viewer’s existing notions of celebrity, value, and honesty. Schoeller studied photography at the Lette Verein in Berlin and moved to New York in the mid-1990s where he began his career. Producing portraits of people he met on the street, his work soon gained recognition for its strong visual impact and since 1998 he has contributed to publications such as National Geographic, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, TIME, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and GQ, among others. Schoeller’s portraits are exhibited and collected internationally, as well as part of the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC., Museo Jumex in CDMX, Mexico,and the Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia. Martin Schoeller lives and works in New York City.

This exhibition and opening event are made possible through an endowment established by Roger J. Schnetzer. Additional support was generously provided by Hahnemuehle.

Date and Time: November 13, 6–8 PM

Location: Deutsches Haus at NYU, 42 Washington Mews, New York, NY 10003

More Information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exhibition-opening-of-harald-hauswald-life-in-east-germany-tickets-1825775095459?aff=oddtdtcreato