the desert lives. History is being made - the wild 80s - a women's project!

Rotraud von der Heide, Claudia in der Hängematte, Mischtechnik

In the winter of 1979/80, women occupied a former chocolate factory in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It had stood empty for 13 years and was in a poor state of repair. Rotraud von der Heide (* 1942) is one of the pioneers whose inexhaustible energy and creative drive led to the creation of the largest women's district center in Germany, which still exists today. However, as an activist and action artist, she was not only a formative pioneer in the wild 1980s in West Berlin, she also traveled to the eastern part of the city immediately after the fall of the Wall to artistically explore the (free) spaces that had suddenly emerged in the united city together with the women artists there. The exhibitions and actions that followed were always bold, radical and international. Since 2002, Rotraud von der Heide has been a member of the artist group "Endmoräne", in which artists from Brandenburg and Berlin artistically bring abandoned places in Brandenburg to life. After the occupation of the Kreuzberg chocolate factory, Rotraud von der Heide dedicated her art project "Die Wüste lebt" (The desert lives) to urban planning and social utopias. The result was Berlin's first rooftop greenhouse. As visionary as green roofs were at the time, the questions they raised about the positive effects on the urban climate are still relevant today.

The exhibition of the same name in the Gothic House is an exemplary presentation of the work of a female artist and marks the significance of the feminist art scene in West Berlin in the 1980s - between the Wall and social, artistic and feminist upheaval. As part of the exhibition, the artist will present her new book "die Wüste lebt".Translated with DeepL

Runtime: Thu, 03/10/2024 to Sun, 24/11/2024

Takes place here:

• Gotisches Haus