Reinhard Mende

Reinhard Mende (* 1930 in Hirschberg , in Silesia ; † 2012 in Leipzig ) was a German freelance photo reporter .

Life

Mende bought his first camera on May 12, 1951 when he was still working as a mill builder. From 1967 to 1990 he worked as a freelance photo reporter in the GDR and was active as such until 2007. In 1963, Mende was the only amateur photographer to receive the bronze medal at the GDR's second photo press show. This was followed by participation in a biennial for photography in Poland, as well as an offer for a permanent position from the party newspaper 'Neues Deutschland', which Mende refused both because of his interest in reportage photography and the associated obligation to join the SED party . For the latter reason, he resigned from the Altenburg District Council , where he worked for the Culture Department from 1962 to 1966. In addition to decades of reportage work on behalf of the advertising department for electrical consumer goods Suhl, based in Leipzig, and the trademark association AKA ELECTRIC, photo reports were created on behalf of the Ministry of Culture of the GDR, for example about the World Youth Festival (1973). In the late 1970s / early 1980s, Mende accompanied various documentary productions on GDR television as a set photographer, some of which were directed by Dagmar Stuchlik . From the 1970s to 1989 he documented the openings and exhibitions of the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg . In addition, numerous publication projects were created with the graphic artist Theo Hesselbarth .

1989 marked a turning point in the work of the photographer: within a short time Mende (supported by his brothers in Germany) acquired new camera and laboratory technology. At the age of 60 he learned the practice of color photography in self-study in order to be able to continue working professionally under the changed system conditions. This was followed by numerous orders for book productions on the history, culture and landscape of the Altenburger Land, for example via the German Playing Card Museum in Altenburg , and CD productions for the Klaus-Jürgen Kamprad publishing house, among others.

He became known through his work for the advertising departments of some state- owned companies in the GDR, for whose products he contributed to the design of advertising materials such as brochures or leaflets. He was also responsible for these companies, which were later united in combines, for their appearance e.g. B. responsible for his photographs at the Leipziger Messe . These pictures showed, among other things, scenes from the production and working life of his clients. Furthermore, he made documentation during the fair during visits by the responsible minister or foreign delegations. His clients in the GDR era included companies such as AKA electric or Heim electric and VEB Elektrogerätewerk Suhl , VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Rühle , VEB Household and Packaging Glass Coswig near Dresden and VEB Leuchtenbau Leipzig .

Artists like Katrin Mayer or Olaf Nicolai developed contemporary works with images from the Mende photo archive.

From 1971, Mende lived and worked with the artisan weaver Hanna Mende in Zürchau .

Exhibitions

• 2012: Double Economies: Reading a Photo Archive from the GDR, 1967–1990 . Hall 14 Center for Contemporary Art, Leipzig
• 2012: Double Economies: Reading a Photo Archive from the GDR, 1967–1990 . center de la photographie, Geneva
• 2013: Double Economies: Reading a Photo Archive from the GDR, 1967–1990 . ETH Zurich
• 2013: Double Economies: Reading a Photo Archive from the GDR, 1967–1990 . Galerie Thomas Fischer, Berlin.
• 2016–2020: Everyday Life in the GDR , permanent exhibition, House of History Foundation, Museum in der Kulturbrauerei, Berlin.

Publications

• with Hans-Joachim Kessler: The Castle and Playing Card Museum in Altenburg Castle . Castle and Playing Card Museum, Altenburg 1982.
• with Ruth Gleisberg: Landscapes . State Lindenau Museum, Altenburg 1985.
• with Hans-Joachim Kessler: Tourist guide Altenburg . Altenburg City Council, Altenburg 1986.
• with Peter Weise: All about playing cards: a stroll through the Altenburg playing card museum . Verlag Tribüne, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-7303-0016-4 .
• with Hans Joachim Kessler and Rosmarie Pierer : Altenburg: Faces and Stories of a City . Publishing house Thuringia, Erfurt 1993, ISBN 3-86087-040-8 .
• with Hans-Joachim Kessler: Altenburger Land: Forays along the Blue Flood, the Pleisse, Sprotte, Schnauder and Wiera . DZA publishing house for culture and knowledge, Altenburg 1996, ISBN 3-9804823-2-4 .

literature

• Kerstin Stakemeier: Socialism in a Coma. In: DAMN magazine. No. 32, March / April 2012.
• Mark Fisher: Ghosts and Simulations of the GDR. In: Double Economies: Reading a Photo Archive from the GDR, 1967–1990. Spector books, Leipzig 2013.
• Doreen Mende, Estelle Blaschke, Armin Linke: Double Economies: Reading a Photo Archive from the GDR, 1967–1990. Spector books, Leipzig 2013, ISBN 978-3-940064-46-2 .
• Sarah E. James: Radical Archives . In: frieze magazine. November 2014.
• Sarah E. James: Pictures for a Different Future . In: frieze magazine. November 2014.
• Philip Ursprung: The value of the surface. Essays on architecture, art and economics. gta Verlag, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-85676-366-4 .
• Philip Origin: Representación del Trabajo / Representation of Labor . ARQ ediciones, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, 2018, ISBN 978-956-9571-56-5 .

Web links

• For the 2013 exhibition ( Memento from March 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
• Obituary in the OTZ

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sexy GDR in Die Zeit from July 11, 2013, p. 50.