The former terrace restaurant »Minsk«, built in the 1970s in the modernist style of the GDR, has become a place of encounter between modern and contemporary art—and between people. During GDR, the »Minsk« was a popular place of recreation and excursion destination. The restaurant was a place where guests came together, talked, celebrated, and danced. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the restaurant’s closure in the mid-90s, the building was increasingly neglected, and the ruin ultimately seemed doomed for demolition. It was the citizens of Potsdam who actively helped to prevent the demolition plans. In 2019, the Hasso Plattner Foundation purchased the building to refurbish it and make it accessible to the public once more. The old »Minsk« thus became DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam. Inside the building, reminiscences of the old »Minsk« can be found, such as the large spiral staircase and the rounded bar counter, but with a new look: the interior design of the foyer and bar was realized by the architectural office Linearama from Genoa and Valter Scelsiin collaboration with the Hedwig Bollhagen Werkstätten in Markwitz, Brandenburg. One focus of the Hasso Plattner Collection is art from the former GDR, and DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam maintains the works from the collection that were created after 1945. Developed over the course of years, the extensive collection of significant works by renowned artists from the former GDR, such as Wolfgang Mattheuer, Bernhard Heisig, and Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, forms the starting point for the museum's program. Works from this time will be brought into dialogue with contemporary art at DAS MINSK.
