Exhibition "Der Große Schwof" - Celebrating festivals in the East

Partying, dancing, drinking: at all times, "Schwofen" was seen as a welcome outlet for pent-up energy that arose from the dictates of opinions, bans on speech and a preference for opportunistic behavior. The new exhibition at the Kunsthalle Rostock, "Der große Schwof - Feste feiern im Osten", looks at parties and celebrations in the GDR, especially in the 1980s - a time when the facades were crumbling, many people left the country and a new, self-confident generation questioned its own existence.

The exhibition offers a broad, humorous spectrum of remembrance. Over 300 photographs by 31 artists present chapters that are crazy, boring, extraordinarily beautiful or as dull as a standardized everyday life can be.

Petra Göllnitz invited the photographers to tell the stories of their generation. The carefully structured picture stories show a range from exclusive, anarchic clubs to private bohemians and everyday niches to the stiff rituals of official state festivities, from rural communities and traditional customs to the urban party scene. While it may have been a little more exquisite and less cordial there - at least at the beginning - everyone was usually in each other's arms at the end.

The exhibited photographs show a surprising piece of everyday culture, beyond all clichés. The images were created by a number of the most extraordinary artists in Eastern photography. Eleven of them can be experienced in documentary films in the rooms of the Kunsthalle Rostock. Visitors can also watch the films at home on YouTube.