Exhibition: »SKATER & ROLLBRETTFAHRER vor und nach dem Mauerfall«

Skateboarding is more than a pastime or a sport – it represents a way of life. Since the 1970s, young people in both West Germany and the GDR have embraced skateboarding.

The exhibition »SKATER & ROLLBRETTFAHRER vor und nach dem Mauerfall« features photographs by Stern photographer Harald Schmitt alongside works by skate scene photographers Thomas Kalak and Helge Tscharn. The exhibition is expanded by numerous photographs and objects from East and West.

Helge Tscharn documents the scene across Europe, having photographed for Monster Skateboard Magazine since 1982. Thomas Kalak co-founded the magazine and was a professional skateboarder in the early 1980s. Their photographs capture the ways skaters reclaimed cities and reimagined urban space, transforming monuments, abandoned buildings, and historic landmarks into stages for their tricks. Harald Schmitt photographed young skateboarders in East Berlin for Stern magazine.

Skateboards from East and West highlight the similarities and differences between the two scenes. The West German company Geist produced skateboards as early as the 1960s, long before they became a familiar sight on the streets of West Germany. In the GDR, the state-owned enterprise VEB Schokoladenverarbeitungsmaschinen Wernigerode manufactured its first skateboard, the »Germina Speeder«, starting in 1985. It proved impractical and too expensive for GDR skaters.

Coveted clothing, homemade skateboards, and objects from the international »Euroskate« competition held behind the Iron Curtain in Prague in 1988 paint a vivid picture of the skateboarding community on both sides of the Wall.

A wall of skateboards showcases the creativity of the scene, while photographs from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and of skateparks as a social gathering place offer a glimpse of skateboarding today.