Skater & Rollbrettfahrer vor und nach dem Mauerfall

In the organizer's words:

Skateboarding is not just a leisure activity or a sport. It stands for an attitude to life. Since the 1970s, young people in both the Federal Republic and the GDR have been discovering skateboarding.

The exhibition "Skaters & Rollerboarders before and after the fall of the Wall" shows pictures by "Stern" photographer Harald Schmitt and scene photographers Thomas Kalak and Helge Tscharn. At the same time, numerous photographs and objects from East and West are added to the exhibition.

Helge Tscharn is a skater himself and has been photographing the scene throughout Europe and for "Monster Skateboard Magazin" since 1982. Thomas Kalak is a co-founder of the magazine and was a professional skater in the early 1980s. Her pictures show how skaters conquer cities and use them in a new way: Monuments, vacant buildings and historical monuments thus become the stage for their tricks. Harald Schmitt photographs young skaters in East Berlin for Stern magazine.

Skateboards from East and West show the similarities and differences between the scenes: The West German company "Geist" was already producing skateboards in the 1960s - long before they began to dominate the streets of West Germany. In the GDR, VEB Schokoladenverarbeitungsmaschinen Wernigerode produced the first skateboard "Germina Speeder" in 1985. It proved to be impractical and too expensive for GDR skaters.

Coveted clothing, home-made skateboards and objects from the international "Euroskate" competition behind the Iron Curtain in Prague in 1988 paint a diverse picture of skateboarders on both sides of the Wall.

A wall full of skateboards vividly illustrates the creativity of the scene. Photos of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and the skate parks as a social meeting place provide a glimpse of the scene today.