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OSTKREUZ – Agency of Photographers

Reframing East German Identity, Memory, and the Politics of Display

by Anne Pfautsch (Author)
©2026 Thesis 216 Pages

Summary

In the wake of German reunification, photography became a vital medium through which the meanings of 'East' and 'West' were negotiated. This book examines how East German identities and photographic practices persisted and transformed after 1989 through the work of Ostkreuz – Agency of Photographers. Founded in 1990 as a collective response to the upheaval of reunification, Ostkreuz carried forward GDR traditions of freelance photography, while adapting to the Western media market. Frequently commissioned by magazines such as Stern and Das Magazin, its photographers navigated enduring stereotypes that cast the East as “Other.” Through close analysis of photographs, exhibitions, and institutional developments, the author traces how Ostkreuz negotiated, mirrored, and subverted such expectations, revealing how an East German photographic ethos endured as both artistic commitment and cultural commodity in post-socialist Germany.
"Pfautsch's book offers an engaging and much-needed analysis of the history and development of Ostkreuz. Her study provides fresh perspectives on the role of photography as a substitute public sphere, the concept of author photography, and the 'othering' of the East. Most importantly, it writes Ostkreuz into German art history, challenging established hierarchies between East and West, and demonstrating the complexities of negotiating collective identities in post-unification Germany."
– Prof. Anna Saunders Chair of German, University of Liverpool

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Contents
  • Figures
  • Abstract
  • Abbreviations
  • Introduction
  • Research Premise and Question
  • Object and Scope
  • Theoretical Lenses
  • Context and Contribution
  • Method and Materials
  • Methods and Mediation: Visual Research in the Age of Digitisation
  • Chapter Outline
  • Artistic and Freelance Photography
  • Chapter 1 The GDR as Point of Departure
  • 1.1. Socialist Realism and the Politicisation of Photography in the GDR
  • 1.1.1. Photography as a Political Instrument
  • 1.1.2. Institutional Control and Visual Norms
  • 1.1.3. Artistic Responses: From Introspection to Autonomy
  • 1.1.4. Conditions of Freelance Photography in the GDR
  • 1.2. The Concept of Autorenfotografie
  • 1.3. GDR Documentary Photography as Ersatzöffentlichkeit
  • Encoding Through Metaphor and Ambiguity
  • Aesthetics of Innuendo
  • Chapter 2 Ostkreuz – Agency of Photographers: A History
  • The Seven Founders
  • Ostkreuz and Magnum
  • Interpersonal Relationships
  • 2.1. The First Decade
  • 2.1.1. The Founding Period (1989–1990)
  • Gender Parity and Its Myth
  • 2.1.2. The Initial Period (1991–1993)
  • 2.1.3. The Consolidation Period (1993–1999)
  • Admission of New Members
  • 2.2. Awakening: The Long Second Decade (2000–2015)
  • 2.3. Outlook (Since 2016)
  • Chapter 3 Othering the East: Ostkreuz’s Photographs After 1989
  • 3.1. Postcolonial Theory and East Germany
  • The East as the Other
  • The German Media Landscape
  • Self-Othering and the Emergence of an East German Identity
  • 3.2. Ostkreuz’s Assignments in the 1990s
  • 3.3. Photographic Strategies
  • 3.3.1. Claiming
  • 3.3.2. Facilitating
  • 3.3.3. Countering
  • 3.4. Between Adaptation and Resistance
  • Chapter 4 Self-Othering: Exhibition Making in Post-Socialism
  • 4.1. Neueinstellung – Deutschlandbilder (Resetting – Images of Germany, 2005)
  • 4.2. Ostzeit. Stories from a Vanished Country (2009)
  • 4.3. 25 Years Ostkreuz – Agency of Photographers (2015)
  • 4.4. Exhibitions as Self-Fashioning: Ostkreuz and the Politics of Representation
  • The Ostkreuz Myth and Its Future
  • Epilogue
  • Curating Ostkreuz Otherwise: La Condition – Vue par l’agence Ostkreuz (2018)
  • Bibliography
  • Image Credits
  • Index

Figures

Fig. 1: Photograph by Frieda von Wild depicting Werner Mahler, Jens Rötzsch, Sibylle Bergemann, Ute Mahler, Thomas Sandberg, Harf Zimmermann, Harald Hauswald (clockwise from left to right), Berlin, 1990

Fig. 2: Gerhard Kiesling, ‘Die Mitglieder der Landwirtschaftlichen Produktionsgenossenschaft (LPG) Fienstedt’ (The members of the Agricultural Production Cooperative (LPG) Fienstedt, 1955

Fig. 3: Evelyn Richter, ‘An der Linotype. Druckerei des Verlags Neues Deutschland’ (At the linotype. Printing works of the publishing house Neues Deutschland), Berlin, 1959/1960

Fig. 4: Ute Mahler, ‘Lehnitz, Ute and Lothar K.’, from the series Living Together, 1974

Fig. 5: Ute Mahler, ‘Hennigsdorf, Dieter und Sonja M.’, from the series Living Together, 1982

Fig. 6: Jens Rötzsch, ‘Berlin(Ost), 1989 (Pfingsttreffen der FDJ (Freie Deutsche Jugend), 13.05.1989 Showveranstaltung im “Stadion der Weltjugend”)’ (Pentecost Meeting of the FDJ (Free German Youth), 13.05.1989 Show event at the ‘World Youth Stadium’), from the series Protokoll-Strecken, Berlin, 1989

Fig. 7: Sibylle Bergemann, ‘Berlin-Lichtenberg, Living Room in a Block of Houses’, from the series P2, 1974

Fig. 8: Harald Hauswald, ‘Hans-Otto-Straße, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg’, from the series Everyday Life, Berlin, 1983

Fig. 9: Werner Mahler, ‘Miner working underground’, from the series Mining, Zwickau, 1975

Fig. 10: Werner Mahler, ‘Miners underground’, from the series Mining, Zwickau, 1975

Fig. 11: Harald Hauswald, ‘Governmental convoy, Wilhelm-Pieck-Straße, Berlin-Mitte’, from the series Everyday Life, Berlin, 1980

Fig. 12: Harald Hauswald, ‘Dimitroffstraße, Schönhauser Allee, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg’, from the series Everyday Life, Berlin, 1985

Fig. 13: Ute Mahler, from the series Paris 1979, Paris, 1979

Fig. 14: Ute Mahler, from the series Paris 1979, Paris, 1979

Fig. 15: Ute Mahler, from the series Paris 1979, Paris, 1979

Fig. 16: Harald Hauswald, ‘“Desertion”, May Day March at Alexanderplatz, Berlin-Mitte’, from the series Everyday Life, Berlin, 1987

Fig. 17: Harald Hauswald, ‘Advertising Board of a Sewing Machine Shop, Pappelallee, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg’, from the series Everyday Life, Berlin, 1984

Fig. 18: Jens Rötzsch, ‘Budapest, 1988 (Thermalbad)’ (Budapest, 1988 [thermal bath]), from the series Budapesti, Budapest, 1988

Fig. 19: Martin Parr, ‘GB. England. New Brighton’, from the series The Last Resort, 1983–85

Fig. 20: Werner Mahler, ‘Mecklenburg’, 1989

Fig. 21: Werner Mahler, ‘Uckermark, 1990

Fig. 22: Sibylle Bergemann, from the series Das Denkmal, Berlin, 1986

Fig. 23: Sibylle Bergemann, from the series Das Denkmal, Gummlin, Usedom, 1984

Fig. 24: Ute Mahler, ‘Nicola and Manfred Kahns’, from the series Erotic in the East, Oranienburg, 1990

Fig. 25: Ute Mahler, ‘Customers in a porn shop’, from the series Erotic in the East, Berlin, 1990

Fig. 26: Ute Mahler, ‘The “Miss Breast” Competition’, from the series Erotic in the East, Oranienburg, 1990

Fig. 27: Ute Mahler, ‘Beauty Farm Bachmair, Tegernsee’, from the series Exkurs: Wessiland, 1991

Fig. 28: Ute Mahler, ‘Leisure Park Phantasialand’, from the series Exkurs: Wessiland, 1990

Fig. 29: Ute Mahler, ‘Sparkling wine breakfast from party caterer “Angel”’, from the series Brothers and Sisters: East, Hohen-Neuendorf, Brandenburg, 1994

Fig. 30: Ute Mahler, ‘Market in front of the construction company Schneider-Bau’, from the series Brothers and Sisters: East, Leipzig, Saxony, 1994

Fig. 31: Jens Rötzsch, ‘Ferropolis 2000 (Stadt aus Eisen – Industriemuseum und Veranstaltungsort im ehemaliger Tagebau Golpa-Nord)’, Gräfenhainichen, 2000

Fig. 32: Jens Rötzsch, ‘Ferropolis 2000 (Stadt aus Eisen – Industriemuseum und Veranstaltungsort im ehemaliger Tagebau Golpa-Nord)’, Gräfenhainichen, 2000

Fig. 33: Jens Rötzsch, ‘Summt, 1999 (Verkaufsstand an der Landstraße L-21 Summter Chaussee in Brandenburg)’ (Summt, 1999 (Sales stand on the L-21 Summter Chaussee road in Brandenburg), from the series Was von der DDR übrig blieb, Summt, 1999

Fig. 34: Jens Rötzsch, ‘Berlin, 1999 (Commemorative event marking the 80th anniversary of the assassination of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, 16 January 1999, Straussberger Platz)’, from the series Was von der DDR übrig blieb, Berlin, 1999

Fig. 35: Werner Mahler, from the series Tod in Suckow, Suckow, 1992

Fig. 36: Werner Mahler, from the series Tod in Suckow, Suckow, 1992

Fig. 37: Ute Mahler, ‘“Bomber” with his sons, Paul and Robert’, from the series Bomber, Berlin-Lichtenberg, Das Magazin 16, 1993

Fig. 38: Ute Mahler, ‘Robert’s second birthday’, from the series Bomber, Berlin-Lichtenberg, Das Magazin 16, 1993

Fig. 39: Sibylle Bergemann, ‘Woman at the Venusberg spinning mill (shortly before its liquidation)’, from the series Verliererinnen der Einheit, Flöha, 1992

Fig. 40: Sibylle Bergemann, ‘Untitled’, from the series Fashion in Dakar, Dakar, Senegal, June 2001

Fig. 41: Jordis Antonia Schlösser, Deconstruction of high-rise building, from the series Halle-Neustadt, Halle-Neustadt, 2004

Fig. 42: Jordis Antonia Schlösser, Subway station Halle-Neustadt, previously Buna-Leuna, from the series Halle-Neustadt, Halle-Neustadt, 2004

Fig. 43: Maurice Weiss, Deportation detention Köpenick, from the series Unwanted – Deportation Custody Berlin-Köpenick, Berlin, 2005

Fig. 44: Maurice Weiss, Ismael ‘Easy’ Tunga-Pedro, from the series Unwanted – Deportation Custody Berlin-Köpenick, Berlin, 2005

Fig. 45: Harald Hauswald, Everyday Life, exhibition view, HKW, Berlin, 2009

Fig. 46: Ute Mahler, left: Fashion photographs from Sibylle; right: Living Together, exhibition view, HKW, Berlin, 2009

Details

Pages
216
Publication Year
2026
ISBN (PDF)
9783631924341
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631924358
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783631924334
DOI
10.3726/b22189
Language
English
Publication date
2026 (June)
Keywords
East Germany photography Ostkreuz reunification post-socialism identity visual culture documentary photography othering self-othering cultural memory media German history collective practice art politics GDR legacy
Published
Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford, 2026. 216 S., 26 farb. Abb., 25 s/w Abb.
Product Safety
Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Anne Pfautsch (Author)

Anne Pfautsch, PhD is an art historian, curator, and lecturer whose research focuses on photography, cultural and gender politics in post-socialism, and memory after 1989. She has held fellowships at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte and Haus der Kunst München, and teaches at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and Leipzig University.

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Title: OSTKREUZ – Agency of Photographers