Robotron. Code und Utopie
In the organizer's words:
The triumphant advance of computers and microelectronics since the 1960s is often referred to as the "third industrial revolution". In the GDR, the name Robotron in particular stood for the new technology that was changing all areas of the economy. Looking back on the history of the combine, the technical possibilities and the social hopes attached to them, but also the political and economic contradictions that ultimately led to the failure of the GDR, are condensed.
With works by over 20 artists, the exhibition takes a look at the developments in the industrial landscape of the East German state. It deals with cybernetics and bureaucracy, espionage and "reverse engineering", the promise of happiness of automation and work in "real existing socialism", clean rooms and environmental destruction, the decay of once important production sites and the re-industrialization of the greater Dresden area as "Silicon Saxony". The photographs, film narratives, installations and graphic works, some of which were created in the GDR, show the diverse intellectual and aesthetic impulses that still emanate from this episode today.
In the exhibition space, an essay unfolds along questions that concern the history of Robotron, but are also relevant for an understanding of the technologically shaped present. It sheds light on the connections between geopolitics and the world market, the crisis-ridden production according to plan in the GDR and the role of an international economic embargo. In doing so, he questions common ideas that have become entrenched in the narrative of a "socialist" past.
The exhibition, entitled Robotron. Working Class and Intelligence from 14.3- 26.7.26 at the HMKV in Dortmund. A publication accompanying the exhibition will be published by Spector Books in February 2026.
This content has been machine translated.Price information:
One-way ticket: 7€ / 5€ Combined ticket: 10€ / 6€
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