Asphalt und Fisch

In the GDR, photographers utilised the freedom to search for interesting themes in the working world. The hurdles for such projects were comparatively low in the “workers and peasants state”.

In his project Asphalt und Arbeit (1985-86), Kurt Buchwald shows the hard physical labour involved in road construction in East Berlin – then capital of the German Democratic Republic – in an unexpectedly aesthetic way. The photographer was fascinated by the actions of the asphalt workers, who used their whole bodies to lay the pavement on the road. Motion blur and fragmentation render the workers’ bodies unrecognisable.

Hans-Wulf Kunze finds access to the people working in Magdeburg’s large companies in the 1980s during long working visits. From 1985 to 1990, he followed everyday working life in the Magdeburg fish factory with a more subjective approach. His photos were taken in the midst of the young people, who he captured with flash and extreme cropping.