Building for the GDR
August 28, 2026–February 1, 2027
Alte Jakobstraße 124-128
Berlin 10969
Germany
Hours: Monday and Wednesday–Sunday 10am–6pm
Josef Kaiser (1910–1991) played a defining role in East German architecture and yet he is widely unknown. Building for the GDR at the Berlinische Galerie is the first exhibition to provide a broad overview of his work. Between 1950 and 1984 Kaiser took part in many government and municipal projects, including the cinema Kino International, Café Moskau and Mokka-Milch-Eisbar on Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin. His buildings, acclaimed both at home and abroad, were seen as an expression of the cultural profile which the GDR sought to demonstrate and are protected today as outstanding specimens of post-war modernism.
Josef Kaiser’s output ranged from prestigious arts venues and residential buildings to urban ensembles and landmark projects. In a period when practitioners had to negotiate between political agendas, urban experimentation, local tradition and international modernism, he evolved his own architectural style combining functional clarity with emblematic gesture. His designs for the second phase of Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin symbolise the formal transition in East German architecture from monumental representation to an everyday idiom driven by innovative technology.
The exhibition grants insights into the copious archive material that has recently been made accessible and hopes to provide a springboard for further scholarly investigation. Drawings, collages, photographs, models and films from the holdings of the Berlinische Galerie, the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS) and other national collections, some of which have never yet been displayed, reconstruct the architect’s life and work and shed light on political and aesthetic frictions. Contemporary Artists Veronika Kellndorfer, Karsten Konrad and Tracey Snelling enrich the experience by contributing new perspectives on the GDR’s architectural heritage.
The exhibition is held under the patronage of Elisabeth Kaiser, Member of the Bundestag, Minister of State and Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany. It is supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.
Catalogue
The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive bilingual catalogue of 252 pages with 247 images. It is published by Spector Books and presents the latest research as a joint project by the Berlinische Galerie and Wüstenrot Stiftung.
Contact
Berlinische Galerie. Museum for Modern Art, Photography and Architecture / Sascha Perkins, Head of Communications and Education: perkins@berlinischegalerie.de / Janet Riedel, Communications: riedel@berlinischegalerie.de.
Events
Opening: August 27, 7–10pm, no prior registration required
Public guided tour in English: October 5, 3pm
Josef Kaiser’s Grosshügelhaus: October 12, 4:30pm, Guided tour with artist Tracey Snelling
Symposium: January 22, 9:30–5pm, (in German) “Sichtbarwerden. Josef Kaiser und die Architekturen der DDR“
