The 80s

Punk and partying, television and Gameboys, the demise of the forest, and the fall of the Berlin Wall – the 1980s were marked by political conflicts and social upheaval, but also marked the dawn of a digital future. Opening on 17 June 2023, the cultural history exhibition “The 80s – Back Again!” will revive memories of one of the most exciting decades in German post-war history.

The major exhibition at the Badisches Landesmuseum allows visitors to experience that tumultuous decade that saw the end of a divided GermanyWho doesn’t remember fitness fashion and Friesennerz, festivals and peace demonstrations, men wearing knitwear and androgynous women with shoulder pads? Popular TV soaps brought the nation together in front of the small-screen, and telephones were still land-line only.. Disco, club, and stadium concerts provided a collective feeling, but at the same time, cell phones, Walkmans, and game consoles created a culture of leisure that was fast becoming more and more individualized. Consumer goods increasingly reflected global fashions. For many young adults, travel, such as with the Interrailing, offered an exciting gateway to freedom and adventure. However, the seemingly pop-colorful decade was also marked by wider existential concerns about the workplace, world peace, environmental destruction, and the consequences of nuclear power. The global pandemic at that time was called AIDS. Public spaces were contested, and the power of the state and western capitalismwere questioned by punks, autonomists, and others. At the close of the decade, the fall of the Berlin Wall was associated with great political hopes and desires: the Cold War appeared to have been overcome, but reunification posed a historical challenge and a generational project.

The exhibition of cultural history at the Badisches Landesmuseum brings to life one of the most exciting and contradictory decades in post-war Germany. The show does not finish at the borders of the old Federal Republic, but gives attention to the political events, oppositional currents, and living environments of the GDR.

Furthermore, visitors are invited to actively participate in this culture of remembrance and to contribute iconic objects themselves. For the first time, the Museum has recruited a Guest Curator: vent manager and journalist Martin Wacker will bring all of his expertise to bear in collaboration with Brigitte Heck, Head of the Folklore Department. The exhibition offers a nostalgic journey through the past, while also establishing a connection with the present. The youth of the 1980s now has a serious responsibility: it must critically ask itself what it achieved back then, and which burning issues it will bequeath to future generations.

Supported with funds from the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany.