The official reunification of East and West Germany in 1990 did not guarantee a prompt mutual understanding of their different sozialization and perspectives which had been formed during their division. The german “Bilderstreit”, or the german “Dispute of Pictures” was a series of intensive discussions about the Arts in the East Germany and about the manners of exhibiting them after the German Reunification until now. One of the many controversial questions was: “Was it possible or even thinkable to do Arts freely in the totalitarian country such as East Germany?” It is important to remark that this “Dispute of Pictures”, which has been rightly described as a “Proxy war” (Stellvertreterkrieg) did not represent the conventional image of two antagonistic parties in conflict as it has been often assumed. Rather, it showed the subtle differences between diverse positions and perspectives, expressed beyond the dichotomy of the invisible Wall between the East and the West. It not only reveals the heterogeneous structure of the cultural memory of the division and of the reunification, but also gives expression to the difficult but indispensable “learning process” of the German people, that is, to acquire necessary cultural techniques for a lasting deep integration.

Bilderstreit, Art Dispute, 　Wiedervereinigung, Reunification, Kultursoziologie, Ästhethik, Kulturwissenschaft, Deutschland, Germany