Gertraude Pohl was one of the few female artists who contributed to the aesthetics of public art in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). She designed the floor of the main hall of the Palast der Republik in 1976, and created murals in the 1970s and 80s for public buildings, including a series of murals that bestowed individuality through artistic means on Kinderkombination buildings, a standardized construction form for childcare facilities. Through her studies at the Hochschule für bildende und angewandte Kunst [University of fine and applied arts] in East Berlin and her trips to Bulgaria, Romania, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Karelia, and Finland, she developed an abstract language that did not conform to the figurative socialist realism characteristic of the time. Pohl’s Fünf Fahnen (1986) was created alongside her mural (1986) for the industrial buildings of Stern-Radio in Berlin’s Marzahn district, the factory that had managed the production of radios in the GDR since 1970, and where many Vietnamese contract workers were employed and lived. The murals were conceived as a visual contribution to the working environment of the then emerging inner-city industrial complex and its surrounding residential housing. After unification in 1990, the factory closed and Pohl’s murals were vandalized. The artist took legal action against the new owner, however the damage has not been repaired and there is still no visible attribution to the artist. By troubling established narratives, Pohl’s work calls attention to the challenges of transitioning from one social order to the other, as exemplified by her flag project Zeitlose Zeichen in Schwarz. Rot. Gold. (1991), which was originally installed at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz and deconstructs symbols of national unity in an attempt to unfold new geometries towards a collective future.

Works in the exhibition: Fünf Fahnen [Five flags] (1986), Honan silk, dyed, a material reminiscence of the former Stern-Radio buidling in Marzahn, Berlin, enamel on steel, pieces each 200 × 73 cm; Zeitlose Zeichen in Schwarz. Rot. Gold. [Timeless signs in black. red. gold.] (1991–), high hoist flag, synthetic fabric, painted and appliquéd, two parts, each 500 × 200 cm. Courtesy of the artist; Wandbild Eingang [Mural entrance] (1986), murals on industrial buildings, VEB Stern-Radio Berlin, Allee der Kosmonauten, Marzahn, Berlin, industrial enamel on steel, stencil technique, prefabricated, mounted on site, 4.8 m × 19.40 m, photo documentation on aluminium dibond, 50 × 63 cm. Photo: Peter Garbe; Wandbilder Hochregallager [Wall paintings high-bay warehouse] (1986), wall paintings on industrial buildings, VEB Stern-Radio Berlin, Allee der Kosmonauten, Berlin Marzahn, industrial enamel on steel, stencil technique, prefabricated, assembled on site, 3 axes each 20 m × 6 m, photo documentation on aluminium dibond, 63 × 50 cm. Photo: Peter Garbe