Article:

Reparaturwissen: DDR Einleitung in den Schwerpunkt

The issue presents negotiations, models, and traditions of Reparaturwissen—what we might call «repair knowledge»—in relation to everyday culture, working environments, and media history of the GDR. To repair something means to change the material, shape, or use of objects. This results in a knowledge of practical adaptation to different material or structural conditions that is often local and accidentally handed down. Within current discussions about the notion of repair, a closer look at the GDR offers new aspects and contexts: «repair knowledge» operates at the intersection of planned and exchange economies, of work and leisure, of control and wayward practices. The resulting traces in material arrangements and their mediation across times allow for a new connection of GDR histories to its materials.