The Halle Art Association will present a compelling photographic retrospective by local photographer Reinhard Hentze starting October 9, 2025, at its Small Gallery. The exhibition, titled "Freedom in View," showcases images from the final decade of East Germany that avoid clichés and offer complex perspectives on life during this transformative period.
The opening reception will take place on October 8, 2025, at 6:00 PM at Große Klausstraße 18. John Palatini from the Halle Art Association will provide an introduction to the exhibition, while Johannes Beleites, Saxony-Anhalt's Commissioner for Processing the SED Dictatorship, will deliver welcoming remarks. The evening will feature a drum set performance by Friedrich Hentze.
Reinhard Hentze's photographs break through conventional views of life in East Germany. While his images do show concrete apartment blocks, decay, and shortages, they tell a much richer story. Within everyday life, Hentze discovers small freedoms, human dignity, pride, and cheerfulness. His pictures capture moments when people dream, celebrate, laugh, or simply exist as themselves.
His photographs of the Monday demonstrations in 1989, including the well-known scene from November 13 on Halle's market square, don't appear as sudden upheaval but as a logical continuation of the attitude Hentze documented with his camera over the years: the unbroken desire for self-determination and humanity.
A central theme of the exhibition focuses on life in Halle. Beyond street scenes and everyday observations, Hentze presents portraits of significant local artists, including Karl Erich Müller, Otto Möhwald, Uwe Pfeifer, Willi Sitte, and Irmtraud Ohme. These impressive diploma works from before 1989 reveal the close connection between people and their artistic expression.
Two artist conversations titled "People and Houses" will accompany the exhibition, scheduled for October 22 and November 5, 2025, both at 6:00 PM. Art historian Christian Drobe will discuss Hentze's work, perspectives, and motives with the photographer.
The exhibition serves as a contribution to commemorating 35 years of German reunification. It demonstrates how the pursuit of freedom was already present in people's faces and life plans before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Additionally, the Halle Art Association will host the closing reception for the exhibition "Nothing is Concluded – Antje Weyrich. Jewelry" on October 16, 2025, at 6:00 PM at the Halle City Archive (Rathausstraße 1). The exhibition honors Halle jewelry designer Antje Weyrich, who died in 2020, with a selection of her works. Texts from her diploma thesis and personal testimonies from women who wore her jewelry pieces illuminate jewelry as communication. The writing group BandSchreibenVorfall from Halle and Leipzig will read accompanying texts for the exhibition.
