The Monument

The Monument brings together for the first time the complete photographic series by Sibylle Bergemann documenting the creation of the Marx-Engels Monument, which was erected on the initiative of the GDR government in 1986, not far from Alexanderplatz in Berlin. This publication presents numerous previously unpublished photographs and opens up a new perspective on one of the photographer's most important groups of works. Bergemann's long-term documentary project—created between 1975 and 1986—is not only presented as an impressive photographic narrative, through the accompanying essays, is also contextualised in historical, socio-political and photographic theory terms. The Monument thus offers comprehensive insights into the creative process behind the series and at the same time makes an important contribution to the critical reassessment of its significance and reception in the area of tension between art and ideology.