With its large glass façades, terraced levels and open-columned halls in the modernist style of the GDR, Das Minsk Kunsthaus in Potsdam has finally returned. At the end of September 2022, the former café-restaurant (re)opened as a place for art and discussion, and the 900-square-meter space is currently home to two exhibitions. In a former ground floor kitchen, “Der Nachbar der will fliegen” (The Neighbor Who Wants to Fly) will be showing garden and landscape paintings by Wolfgang Mattheue, while the former restaurant space on the upper floor will be filled with photographs of 1990s Potsdam allotment gardens by Canadian artist Stan Douglas.
The Kunsthaus’s permanent exhibitions will alternate between works from the Hasso Plattner Collection and other artists, offering insights into the art collection of IT firm SAP co-founder and Potsdam patron Hasso Plattner. Apart from the roof and interior columns, the East Modernist building was renovated by Genoa-based architectural firm Linearama in collaboration with Hedwig Bollhagen Werkstätten in Marwitz, Brandenburg. The characteristic spiral staircase and bar counter that remain conjure up fond memories for Potsdam residents and East Germans. The Ost vibes continue: Belarusian artist Rufina Bazlova has designed flags for the three poles in front of Das Minsk, and the stairway to the Braushausberg is adorned with a tiled wall by Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, a pioneer of “mail art” in the former GDR. Now, as then, this building radiates openness and offers numerous opportunities to linger, from a visit to the museum to coffee or ice cream on the terraces.
Text: Alison Musch / Credit: Mattheuer Wolfgang, Heidemarie Milkert, Monika Geilsdorf & Foto Mausolf
Das Minsk, Max–Planck–Str.17, 14473 Potsdam; map
Mon & Wed–Sun 10–19h
@dasminsk