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Individual living circumstances have changed dramatically since 1989. In evaluating the quality of living today, East Germans still tend to compare their current experience to their former life in the GDR. Correspondingly, German memory discourse has offered an abundance of vivid descriptions centring on specific GDR everyday practices considered exotic and obsolete. Everyday living circumstances have been cited as examples of Western dominance in the competitive relationship between the two German states, and as evidence of how the GDR failed to deliver a promised better future for all its citizens. 1989 is seen to have produced an overall 'catch up' effect, which also pertained to body concepts and practice (McLellan, 2009: 119). With regard to the Wende, East Germans have been widely depicted as experimenting with consumerism and individual liberties missed out on before. This 'catch-up' effect also supported a view of Germans as generally inferior to their Western counterparts. Portrayed as former citizens of an underdeveloped country, East Germans were thought less capable of adapting to the demands of Western democracy and a capitalist market.

By contrast, East Germans have denounced federal economic and social policies as biased, pointing to social studies evidencing them as second-class citizens in terms of development of wages and salaries, pensions, and infrastructure. The underlying theoretical and developmental paradigm declares the post-1989 development of the GDR as transformational: a post-socialist country in need of being transformed in accordance with West German standards. This

represents the dominant political approach since unification. Prominent East Germans such as Wolfgang Thierse (2001), Regine Hildebrandt (Hildebrandt and Winkler, 1994) and Wolfgang Kil (2000; 2004) have repeatedly pointed out the pitfalls of the model. For example, it has blocked political agendas that support innovation in dealing with the social and economic challenges posed by German unification. But these critics have particularly emphasised a similar need for Western Germany to adapt to the new political situation and be transformed in the course of the process. The urge directly to compare East German and West German development, however, is rooted in Cold War politics, which saw both German states entangled in ideological competition. The need to catch up can thus be classified as one of the dominant 'ghosts' that haunt narratives of the Wende until this very day. With regard to the latter, widespread discursive denunciations have regularly downplayed the accomplishments of the GDR in providing everyday infrastructure. Consequently, while not defending their living situation in the GDR outright, the majority of women interviewed tended to foreground a creativity and do-it-yourself approach in dealing with limited resources and turning basic living conditions into creative, aesthetic, and sometimes even luxurious, solutions. For example, one woman described her personal initiative to turn a communal room in her apartment block that was used as a store into a private bath, which was granted by the authorities. Together with her husband she tiled the room, installed a bathtub, decorated the space and used it without additional rent until 1990.

Another woman recalled washing in a sink on a regular basis, since her apartment lacked a bath. However, she did not mention the arduous routine, but rather the aesthetic aspects of doing so. This can be viewed as a romanticisation of basic living conditions in order to not just make them bearable, but rather indulge in them as a way of setting oneself apart from the majority and social expectations. It may have been influenced by impressionist depictions of Bohemian lifestyle such as this one by Carl Larsson, 1908.

Only two women, plagued with neurodermatitis, were adamant in denouncing their housing situation prior to 1989. These women also reflected on the remaking of towns after the Wende, likening the refurbishment and reconstruction of buildings to the towns "gaining a new face" and smelling differently (Pinia). Sociologist Bernd Hunger has stressed the ailing condition of many towns in the GDR as a decisive factor in making citizens rebel against the politics of the ruling party in the 1980s (Hunger, 1991: 32). Interestingly, none of the women remembered their everyday life as shaped by the obstacles and annoyances inherent in processes of renewing cities and towns (e.g. noise, disruptions of services, air pollution).

If practice is done with and through the body on an everyday basis, it leaves somatic traces. It seemed plausible to assume that a changed everyday practice thus led to a changed body awareness. Individual somatic routines of the everyday in 1989/90 specifically, as part of the in-between-state of two societies, have seldom come into focus in both memory discourse and documentation. To explore this precarious everyday situation as a catalyst for a changed body awareness, was intriguing. In general, however, the interviews did not confirm initial assumptions of 1989 as a milestone in remembering a changed body awareness. Few interview statements charted somatic memory explicitly, apart from Wende-related sickness and memories of pregnancy during that time. While the interview focus on everyday life pushed the political events to the background, it did not produce discussions of a specific 'socialist body' shaken by the events. Interview narratives often did not go beyond a personal perspective on nude

In memory discourse, Freikörperkultur (FKK) has mainly referred to nude bathing, but principally includes other somatic practices based on a permissive relationship with nudity in an everyday environment. For further explanation, see Glossary, page 1.

None of the women remembered the influx of Western advertising and its commercialisation of the female body as decisive for their own self-appreciation and only the eldest women commented negatively on them. In evaluating living circumstances in 1989/90, the interviews clearly highlighted the persistence of somatic practices fundamental to the everyday. This can be explained by the persistence of the standard of living circumstances that was narrated by the women. Most changes in living circumstances occurred in 1991 to 1994, inaugurated through moving house, re-training and changing job environments. The state crisis preceded the advent of personal change by far, marking a personal

Wende long after the GDR ceased to exist. Thus, we can identify a delayed Wende at the somatic level. Simultaneously, however, there exists an anticipatory Wende at the individual somatic level. On the whole, somaticity, understood in a Levinasian sense as "the various forms of our pre-reflective, bodily-perceptual relatedness to the world and, most importantly, to others", is slow in changing (Krueger, 2008: 606). But at times the somatic perception can foster insights that are only later reflected upon, as is evident in the concept of somatic markers, e.g. obesity or sensory change.

In dealing with the interview accounts of a quotidian past, the performance work concentrated on the diversity of living circumstances conveyed in the interviews. It was found in the conditions and practices described as well as the commentaries delivered on these practices. A main part of the studio work explored how the living circumstances at this precarious political stage were remembered. We thus sought to grasp daily body practice through an approach from two angles.

First, research in the studio was aimed at documenting a GDR specific body awareness 'on the edge'. In other words, we tried to trace an awareness based on GDR culture and living circumstances shaped by the fundamental changes instigated by 1989. For example, we looked at changing somatic practice through large-scale improvements in housing conditions. We also paid attention to accounts of individual experimentation, excesses, and pleasures linked explicitly to 1989. This included the sudden availability of a wide range of diverse tools to stylise an individual body, e.g. daily care products and dress.

On a different note, somatic change was explored in its coerciveness, caused by the necessity felt to conform to a new job market. To conform thus also demanded to adhere to Western body politics, e.g. a perceived excessive stylisation of the individual body. Subsequently, this engagement with the practice of documentation led to an approach that sought to explore and challenge perceived notions of the 'documentariness' of somatic practice through a critical appraisal of the discourse on contemporary documentary art. This two- fold approach is reflected in the following pages charting our efforts at documenting historical somatic practice through re-embodiment. The final performance sequence mirrored our critical engagement with current discussions about the relationship between historical evidence, somatic document, and creative practice.

In a workshop on body politics, we estimated our current average use of daily care products against the amount of products recounted by interviewees prior to 1989. This was done in order to comprehend the experience of a sudden influx of Western goods in 1990. This picture documents an array of all daily care products

owned and regularly used by two performers. It reflects a stark contrast between interviewees' memories and performers' current practice. It provided a useful visualisation of the relationship between everyday practice and the consumption of product brands as individual strategies for self-definition.

Body change after 1989: nudity and shaving

In order to reflect practically on GDR specific body change after 1989, it was necessary to explore the notion of an East German somatic-based cultural specificity. Nudism, and more specifically nude bathing (FKK), as a widely acknowledged mainstream practice in the GDR, seemed exceptionally promising. In GDR memory discourses concerning in particular the 'socialist body', nude practices serve as main characteristics of a special body awareness in the GDR.

Discussions of a GDR body awareness frequently point towards a more relaxed attitude towards nudity and its non-sexualised display. TV documentary series such as Damals in der DDR (MDR, 2006), special editions of major magazines such as Der Spiegel (available at einestages.de) and more informal online fora tend to portray the GDR as a republic of nude bathers. Academics such as the East German sex researcher Kurt Starke or UK historian Josie McLellan have linked FKK

to a different body awareness and social positioning of women in the GDR, as well as their overall economic independence (McLellan, 2011; Starke, 2013). According to Starke, the lacking commercialisation of the female body added to this. He claims that there was no sexualisation in advertising and less visibility of nudity in media, for example on TV. These conditions allowed for a more liberal body practice (Starke, 2013: 2).

By contrast, McLellan has emphasised the state permissiveness of nude bodies in GDR media. In her study of nudity in GDR magazines, she concluded that "[f]rom the 1960s onwards, […] in publications

In dictionary threads, the debate on GDR body awareness is heated. LEO provides a telling example of a transcultural discussion that carves out a general denunciation of East German cultural difference with regard to female somatic practices: "[I]t really annoys me that even today one is seen as badly educated […] Just because somebody describes cultural differences [...] that person is accused of wanting the [Berlin] Wall back. […] These [cultural differences] include the role of women [...], but also topics such as sexuality (nude practices, sauna, body awareness, and beauty standards). Why is it not possible to keep this part of my cultural identity that also marks me personally?"

"Nude practices such as FKK had to do with a different body awareness and, again, with the social positioning of women. East German women had a different body awareness based on their general self-confidence (Souveränität) in society and their economic independence. Another reason can be found in the fact that it was impossible in the GDR to place one's body on the open market - because there was no market. There was no sexualised advertisement either, in fact, there was little advertisement at all. […] In the GDR, nudism within the family also developed very strongly, a fact that was not easily explained in terms of external factors. But anyone who has ever lived in an over-heated GDR apartment block knows what I am talking about. […] Or take, for example, the communal bath in the bathtub: The only reason those East Germans, who had finally managed to get an apartment complete with a bath didn't share the tub with the other was because it was too small. But the kids shared it all right."

(Fenlika, 7. 10. 08; Transl. M.H.) Source: leo.org

which were published under the auspices of the Central Committee's Press Office, nudity was, if not the norm, then normal" (McLellan, 2009: 143). However we choose to interpret the state relationship to media displays of nudity, critics agree on a more relaxed overall attitude to nudity in public. Needless to say that nude practices have left a mark on the bodies of East Germans.

The same relaxed attitude was applied where quotidian practices were concerned. Starke has carved out the important role of the family in developing the acceptance of nude practices, linking housing situations and hygiene conditions to body awareness. According to him, overheated prefab-apartments were one reason for familial nude sessions in the bathtub (2013: 2). McLellan argues along the same lines, pointing to other instances of permissive nudity in public and semi-public spaces, e.g. when based on the allotment (Datsche) (2009: 144). Different sources for public permissiveness on nude practices can thus be identified.

Mainstream nudism in the interviews

German memory discourse includes accounts on the commercialisation of nudity and objectification of the female body after 1989 that had been hitherto sanctioned by GDR authorities. The advent of Western advertising and its strong commercialisation of the female body as possible stimulants of a changing body awareness were also posed to the interviewees. As mentioned before, only the eldest women experienced the changes as disgraceful. They were not remembered as a sudden stark contrast by most interviewees.

Examples can be found in issues of Das Magazin, a popular weekly magazine on lifestyle matters in the GDR that included a part on artistic nude photography. The Funzel, a popular satirical outlet of the magazine that focussed on an everyday approach to nudity, regularly pictured naked women and men posing. On a different note, nude sunbathers are seen here in the city park, East Berlin,

in 1990. (picture: dpa | welt.de)

Manual labour during leisure time was one of the practices less mentioned, in which nudity was openly displayed.

Similarly, only two women hinted at a forced stylisation in order to conform to a changed job market that emphasised "appearance" as an important selling factor. Overall, questions about whether the women felt that their body awareness had changed in the course of the events were denied. This was particularly puzzling since we could identify potential markers of such a change. These included daily showering and the increased use of a variety of care products; body shaves as part of a daily regime; a heightened awareness of the necessity to find an individual style for self-expression mediated in life-style magazines; and others.

However, interviewees called into question the conventional narrative of the GDR as a republic of nude bathers by registering diverse approaches to FKK practices. Some interviewees followed the standard public narrative in classifying nude practices as typically Eastern, for example saying that they had practised nude sun bathing before 1989 and continue to do so. They were annoyed by the influx of West Germans to nude beaches in the East who instantly demanded demarcation zones for non-nude areas. Others declined to have indulged in this practice, however still acknowledging nudity as widespread and normal for GDR society. For example, Pinia stated that she did not like going to nude beaches. The same was mentioned by other interviewees. To think that women with a strong positive Eastern identity remember being keen on nude bathing, and thus use FKK as an element of self-identification, would be misleading. Nonetheless, FKK

Visualising the 'socialist body' in performance

On stage, nudity is hardly identified as a specific cultural practice steeped in history. This stems from the fact that nudity practised in public spaces is not culturally specific. Rather, it can be universally found, but linked to varying cultural practices and connotations in more or less permissive public environments. With regard to Germany and Great Britain, the history of the nude movement, referred to as naturism, records nude congresses in the first half of the 20th century in both countries.

Contemporary live performances readily employ naked bodies as a device to shock a presumably petite-bourgeois audience. Thus, the Mediterranean performers involved in the project pointed toward their use of nudity as a performance tool to explicitly shock public audiences into reconsidering preconceived notions of gender roles and femininity. But although regularly a success with an Arab or Greek audience, the tactic has failed in other cultural contexts. By contrast, Western European audiences have grown accustomed to nudity as a provocation to the point of boredom. Likewise, a British dancer is expected to be comfortable in displaying his nakedness in performance, the task 'coming with the job'.

In autoethnographic workshop explorations, my background as an East German nude practitioner became evident as a potential blindfold against cultural implications of nudity in public display. Though not ignorant of the strategic use of nudity for performance, I sometimes failed to recognise an inherent sexual gaze or cultural

The first national congress of nude practitioners in Great Britain was held

in 1934. (picture: dpa | welt.de)

Take for instance the dance performance of Dave St. Pierre's company at Warwick Arts Centre in 2012, Un peu de tendresse bordel de merde!.

In the piece, naked performers climbed onto spectators' laps and shook body parts in their faces. There were no stark reactions from the audience. Elderly women smiled mildly, others laughed and joked with performers. Some critics complained of boredom.

connotations upon which performances relied for effect. The cross- cultural, interpretative realm of nude practices on stage proved vast and to limit it meaningfully became difficult for our group. To draw out cultural specificity, we therefore aligned another instance of body practice in our explorations which has been regarded within memory discourse as an East German phenomenon: the resistance to shaving the body. After 1989, and even more so today, not shaving is considered as one of the identifying characteristics of the GDR woman in popular discourse. While artistic images of female nudes have often depicted them with shaven armpits and legs, shaving was not deemed part of a daily regime in the GDR and women tended to be unshaven on the beach.

However, the resistance to shaving can be found in other cultures