The Administered Life

“In 1972, I was at the Immigration office. I looked at my passport, red stamp covering the whole page: ‘exit enforcement order’. The official didn’t say anything and walked away. It crushed me.”

— Hanefi Yeter

The works in this room explore the themes of provisional living out of suitcases and dependence on bureaucratic processes. They contrast the rigidity of administrative agencies with the vulnerable lives of migrant workers, who are trapped in limbo between departure and arrival.

Following the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, West Berlin’s industry lost many workers from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The systematic recruitment of so-called guest workers, which began in West Germany in 1955, was extended to West Berlin in the early 1960s. For those recruited, this meant constant scrutiny by the authorities.

The works on display explore the tension between individual migration experiences and administrative control. They expose a bureaucratic logic in which migrants become mere residence cases, not just workers. Between government offices, forms and deadlines, belonging becomes conditional; it must be repeatedly applied for, proven and confirmed. A stamp in a passport transforms residency into a temporary permit and life into a series of periods under the jurisdiction of government agencies. The suitcase symbolises this bureaucratic transience, reflecting both expectation and uncertainty. In this context, the hopes that drove many to come to West Germany prove increasingly fragile.

Vlassis Caniaris

Vlassis Caniaris, Hopscotch (Himmel und Hölle), 1974, collection of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (ΕΜΣΤ) © The Estate of Vlassis Caniaris

© The Estate of Vlassis Caniaris
Vlassis Caniaris, Hopscotch (Himmel und Hölle), 1974, collection of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (ΕΜΣΤ) © The Estate of Vlassis Caniaris

© The Estate of Vlassis Caniaris

Hopscotch

(1975)

Vlassis Caniaris’ Hopscotch emerged from his observations while participating in the DAAD Artists-in-Residence Program in West Berlin from 1973 to 1975. The title of the installation refers to a children’s game known in German as Himmel und Hölle (Heaven and Hell). Players hop on one leg onto marked squares while trying to maintain their balance. Instead of numbers, Caniaris’ game squares are labelled with West German labour recruitment institution names, such as “Arbeitskommission” (Labour Commission) and “Ausländerpolizei” (Police for Foreigners). Through this, the artist addresses the precarious daily lives of migrant workers, where a single misstep can quickly become an existential threat. The headless figures on the edge of the installation, assembled from simple materials and used clothing, reflect the dehumanising effect of the institutions controlling labour migration.

More on Vlassis Caniaris

In the exhibition chapter “Street Plays – Childhood in Kreuzberg”

A figure wearing a knitted jumper on a red tricycle, holding a yellow and green pinwheel in one hand.

Harun Farocki

Aufstellung

(2005)

Diagrams and illustrations from newspapers, school textbooks and official reports form the starting point for Harun Farocki’s Aufstellung. The focus is on standardised pictograms – specifically, the stick figures representing migrant workers. Seemingly neutral statistics regarding their wage groups and incomes, as well as historical migration movements shown in these representations, reveal their stereotypical, racist content. People are reduced to numbers; migrant groups become economic factors set in relation to flows of goods and money. This duplicity is inherent in the title itself: “Aufstellung” means both a statistical table and a military formation in ranks and files. While migration in the 1960s and 1970s was discussed primarily under the term “guest work”, Aufstellung demonstrates that the history of migration, which predates the emergence of the nation-state, is significantly more complex.

Person viewing black-and-white drawing of two people on monitor. Two black stools in front.

Kreuzberg: Kunst und Migration seit 1960, installation view, Gropius Bau, 2026

Jannis Psychopedis

Gastarbeiter

Jannis Psychopedis created Gastarbeiter during his two-year fellowship with the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program in West Berlin. The drawing depicts young men in suits, each holding a passport, standing in line at a government office. Superimposed over this scene of migrant worker recruitment is a depiction of the ancient sculpture of Apollo of Olympia. Through this juxtaposition with an idealised image of masculinity, Psychopedis reflects on how the state shapes bodies within the context of the West German recruitment agreement with Greece. For example, selection procedures were carried out in the sending country, to assess the applicants’ health and suitability.

Black-and-white print depicting a long line of people standing behind a counter in the lower part of the image. Above them are two stacked panels: the upper panel shows the torso of a classical statue, while the lower panel contains a bright, silhouette-like human figure.

Jannis Psychopedis, GASTARBEITER, 1978

More on Jannis Psychopedis

In the exhibition chapter “At the Factory”

Natascha Ungeheuer

Untitled

(1969–1970)

In the late 1960s, the artist Natascha Ungeheuer and the writer Johannes Schenk founded the street theatre Kreuzberger Straßentheater, with which they performed in various West German cities. Their improvised, satirical plays raised awareness of the realities faced by Kreuzberg residents. The masks are props from the play Der Sklavenhändler, which Schenk and Ungeheuer developed based on conversations with the writer Aras Ören. Through the deliberately provocative reference to colonialism and its stereotypical roles and masks, the play exemplified the exploitative conditions of “guest work”. It depicted the deceptive promises used by West Germany to recruit workers in Turkey, and it concluded with the deportation of a migrant worker after a workplace accident. Through this play, Ungeheuer and Schenk drew attention to the precarious legal status of migrant workers, which granted them only limited rights to occupational safety and tied their residence permits directly to their employment status.

Hanefi Yeter

Zurück

(1976)

Strongly influenced by the Berlin realist movements of the 1970s, Hanefi Yeter employs critical montage in several paintings. This layering of images also influences his approach in Zurück, where a West Berlin police expulsion order covers a woman’s face. The stamp declares she must leave the Federal Republic within one month. Vasıf Öngören, an author and theatre maker from Yeter’s circle, linked this imagery to the cultural belief that fate is “written on one’s forehead.” Yet, as Öngören notes, Yeter “is convinced that one can change the script.” The montage technique vividly illustrates how the reality of migrants’ lives depended on bureaucratic orders and procedures. During economic downturns, migrants and their families often faced sudden expulsion from West Germany, as losing a job frequently also meant losing a residence permit.

Painting of a face overlaid with text, including dates and a police directive, in vivid colors.

Hanefi Yeter, Zurück, 1976, courtesy: Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien

Zuzugssperre

(1976)

In Zuzugssperre, a group of people is obscured by a painted stamp from the Berlin Police Headquarters. The stamp refers to a residential permit regulation in West Berlin that prohibited migrants from moving to the districts of Kreuzberg, Tiergarten and Wedding. By the mid-1970s, neighbourhoods with large migrant populations were frequently portrayed as dangerous and crisis-ridden. In response to these racist narratives, politicians introduced the so-called Zuzugssperre (residential ban), which barred migrants from moving into neighbourhoods where the migrant population already exceeded twelve per cent. As a result, families and friends were often separated, and finding housing became even more difficult for migrants.

More on Hanefi Yeter

In the exhibition chapter “Street Plays – Childhood in Kreuzberg”In the exhibition chapter “At the Factory”In the exhibition chapter “Pursued by the Past”In the exhibition chapter “Pictures of a District”