[EAST GERMAN PUNK AND SUBCULTURE–BANNED EXHIBITION] "AG Mauerstein bringt: Mauerstein-Paintings, Prints, Records. Special effects by Igor Tatschke"

Berlin: np, June 1987. Single leaf measuring 10 ¾ x 8 ¼ in., linocut to
recto only. With color stains and traces of printing; else very good. Item #10452

Extremely rare broadside for the legendary exhibition by East German punk musician and artist Igor Tatschke, which was shut down mid-show by East Berlin police forces.

This poster promotes Igor Tatschke's first exhibition with his groupAG Mauerstein in Jörg Deloch's apartment, which for two years was a central meeting point for East Berlin's subcultural art scene. Tatschke was known in the scene primarily for his short-lived room and stage designs for often illegal punk shows, including large-scale graffiti on bunkers in the Berlin area.

The opening of this exhibition, with Igor Tatschke's paintings on cardboard, characterized by pop and the style of the Junge Wilde, led to an escalation. Not only was Tatschkea magnet for the punk movement, but Deloch was also celebrating his birthday at the same time as the opening. More than one hundred guests crowded into the apartment.A police task force stormed into the apartment at around midnight and broke up the event with rubber truncheons.This was followed by a written order to take down the pictures immediately.

However, the exhibition was reopened a short time later under the protection of the Protestant church. While the first opening in the Wohnungs galerie Deloch, which this broadside promotes, was still an event for insiders of the scene, the reopening at the church attracted a great deal of attention, the violent termination of the party and the banning of the exhibition having had the opposite effect to that intended by the authorities.

The air was stifling. It stank of tobacco, alcohol and sweat. (...)The exhibition, or rather whatI could see due to the lack of space, can only be described in my memory with words like 'extreme', 'crass' or 'bizarre'. A wild mess in black and white. Darkest comic art, intermingled with scraps of words ranging from seemingly senseless to obscene." (Dietmar Wolf, on the website of the Umwelt-Bibliothek).

An exceptional artifact of countercultural artwork in the face of state repression. As of April 2025, OCLC locates no examples.

Price: $1,500.00