On October 23, the curators of the exhibition Reading the Spinnerei. Die Arbeits- und Betriebsfotografie von Rita Große invited the Friends of the GfZK to a guided tour. Together with the artist Rita Große, the Friends of GfZK spent the afternoon in the archiv massiv at Spinnerei Leipzig.
Until 1990, the most important exhibitions of the Leipzig professional photographer Rita Große were the Leipzig Master Fairs in spring and fall. For this showcase of the GDR economy, she took pictures of workers in the factories and the products they manufactured. However, neither her name was mentioned nor was she involved in the picture selection. From the thousands of pictures of her professional career, it was therefore only possible to show what suited the (changing) interests of the SED and the organizers of the trade fairs. The portrayal of her work was thus subject to an ideologically forced and mostly male gaze. Today, Rita Große owns an extensive archive of work in GDR companies and on the history of construction in Leipzig and other East German cities.
The exhibition is a project of the Zentrum für optimistische Bergbauforschung and was curated by Ramona Schacht and Luca Bublik.