People Left and Right on the Street

Georg Krause

The protagonists in Georg Krause’s photographs don’t come from the world of the rich and beautiful. These are the people that can be found to the left and right on the street, people he portrayed in East Germany during the late 1970s. Krause questioned them on what significance their profession or job occupies in their lives. He then summarised each statement in three succinct sentences and printed these manually onto the photographs on baryte paper, making each photograph a unique work. The work, its meaning, change, and social upheaval were to become some of the major themes of his subsequent work.
Now, with this exhibition, Krause returns to Berlin-Schöneweide, where he produced his series Betriebsalltage (Everyday Factory Life), Rohlingsdreherei (Workpiece Turnery), Schmelzer (Smelter), and Kupferhütte (Copper Foundry),all in the mid-eighties – social documentations that have since become legendary. Before German reunification, 25,000 industrial workers enjoyed full-time employment here; of these, only 400 are left today.