Niemandsland und Musterdorf. Fotoreportagen von Bettina Flitner 1990/2014

In the organizer's words:

"What do you feel now?" - this is the question Cologne-based photographer Bettina Flitner asks numerous people from East and West in 1990 as she explores the fallow border strip in formerly divided Berlin. Almost 25 years later, she goes in search of traces in the former "socialist model village" of Mestlin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with the question "What is the GDR for you?"

The result is two photo reportages that show the tense period of upheaval in East Germany since 1989. Around 50 photographs are on display at the Museum in der Kulturbrauerei.

One is in black and white, the other in color. City shots here, portraits of the countryside there: at first glance, the two photo reportages seem contradictory. The unifying element is Bettina Flitner's approach. In both projects, she combines pictorial compositions and quotations - sensitively, individually and respectfully towards the people portrayed. She looks for upheavals, contradictions and impressions and puts them in perspective.

The focus is always on the people. Her answers to Bettina Flitner's questions about "What will?" - "What will remain?" bear witness to joy and frustration, indifference and consternation, fears, hopes and disappointments. In this way, deep insights are gained into the attitude to life in eastern Germany since the end of the GDR.