WO DER OSTEN URLAUB MACHTE 2025
In her series Wo der Osten Urlaub machte Charlotte Burkhardt revisits former GDR holiday resorts that were once popular vacation destinations. Nearly forty years after German reunification, the Baltic Sea remains a beloved getaway, with loyal visitors who continue to return to these familiar coastal landscapes, including Burkhardt's grandparents. Between the flat sandy beaches, the dunes and the forests near the shoreline, Burkhardt photographs places where past and present, and personal and collective memories, intersect. From beach chairs to orange floral curtains, her images capture iconic elements shaped by GDR aesthetics. Her photographs show how these destinations persist today, not fully preserved and not fully forgotten but marked by traces of shared experiences.
Text by Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation
part of the group exhibition Worlds within Worlds 20.2. - 16.8.26 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation
The artists featured in the exhibition are: Lena Bils, Charlotte Burkhardt, Simon Gilmer, E. Elif Gönüllü, Nelly Habelt, Philomena Hummel, Elinor Zoë Karl, Lea Kulens, Len David Oswald, Marie Schwarze, Markus Seibel, Madlen Strebel, Tatiana Vdovenko, and Kerstin Weiser.
The exhibition was curated by Polina Arzhenovskova, Leonie Cecco, Fanny Dommers, Aissata Drieling, Charlotte Häger, Antonia Janke, Egor Miroshnichenko, Alexandra Rücker, Mattis Thomsen, Max Zimmermann, and Carla Veit. The collaboration is conducted under the direction of Anne-Marie Beckmann, Director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation; Stefanie Heraeus, Head of the Curatorial Studies program at Goethe University Frankfurt; and Martin Liebscher, Professor at HfG Offenbach.