Ommo Wille

Ommo Wille (1959-2024) studied Fine Arts at the Braunschweig University of Art from 1981 to 1989 and taught at the Berlin University of the Arts. In 2026, his family donated his photographic estate, which also includes drawings and paintings, to the Museum of Photography Braunschweig. Ommo Wille also worked as an illustrator.

In the early 1990s, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ommo Wille explored the former German-German border region around Braunschweig, Saxony-Anhalt, as well as in Berlin, Potsdam, and Brandenburg in his extensive photography project "Zwischenzeit" (Interim). Numerous black-and-white photographs, taken with a panoramic camera, depict the structural upheavals of the post-1989 period from an expanded and compositionally individual perspective. They offer insights into the politically shaped landscapes of the former GDR, whose socio-political repercussions remain relevant today.

Besides the former Harbke manor, known as the "Hof der LPG Freundschaft" during GDR times, exterior and interior views of the buildings at the Marienborn border crossing, abandoned troop stations in the former Erxleben manor, and many other motifs from visually impressive perspectives have been created as gelatin hand prints.

Some of the images were already in the collection of the Museum of Photography and were shown in projects such as "Regional Memory" or exhibitions of the "Braunschweig Landscape." Exhibitions of this important body of work were also presented in 1993 at the University Gallery of the Braunschweig University of Art and in 1994 at the Braunschweig State Museum.

The group of works also includes a motif from the former Palace of the Republic, which – currently featured in the media – was opened in East Berlin 50 years ago in April 1976, before being demolished in the 1990s due to asbestos contamination. Until 1990, it served as the seat of the GDR parliament and was a popular venue for leisure and culture. The foyer and stairwell were illuminated day and night thanks to the extensive lighting system.

In vividly colored and high-quality prints, Ommo Wille dedicated another important group of works within his photographic oeuvre to "Erich's Lamp Shop" – the colloquial name for the palace – before its demolition, and wrote the following about it:

"In 1992 and 1993, I had the opportunity to visit the Palace of the Republic of the GDR one last time under the expert guidance of an engineer and to photograph it with a medium format camera (Pentacon Six, 6 x 6 cm). The visits were limited to two hours each time. Therefore, the amount of photographic material is unfortunately very small. Nevertheless, I hope that I can at least give a small glimpse into the now-vanished Palace of the Republic."