With its large glass frontage, staggered terraces and airy columned hall, the Das Minsk Kunsthaus in Potsdam is a wonder of GDR modernism. In September 2022, the 900 square meter former restaurant (re)opened as a new center for art and culture, featuring a rotating program of modern and contemporary art. As you ascend the Brauhausberg on which the gallery stands, you encounter a piece of tiled wall art by Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt. It’s an introduction to Nichts Neues(“Nothing New”), a retrospective of the artist’s work from 1960 to 1990 that is on show at Minsk until 07.05.2023. The exhibition explores Wolf-Rehfeldt’s typewriting, prints, collages and paintings in three thematic episodes, exploring the relationship between image, writing and language and tackling themes like environmentalism, feminism and the Cold War. Living in the GDR, Wolf-Rehfeldt became involved in “Mail Art”, an underground movement enabling the uncensored circulation of art and ideas both within the GDR and across borders. In June, half of the gallery will be turned into a space for discussions and workshops about the next exhibition, which is called Werk Statt Sammlung and will include works by Gudrun Brüne, Bernhard Heisig, Wolfgang Mattheuer and Stefan Plenkers. It’s set to be an art-filled summer, but until then head to the gallery’s terraces, take in the sun and discover just how fresh “Nichts Neues” actually is.
Text: Alison Musch / Credits: Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt; Chertlüdde, Berlin; Ladislav Zajac
Das Minsk Kunsthaus in Potsdam, Max-Planck-Str.17, 14473 Potsdam; map
Daily 10–19h (closed Tue)
@dasminsk
