The subject of this essay is Fritz Eisel’s mosaic Der Mensch bezwingt den Kosmos (Humanity Conquers the Cosmos), a frieze that has decorated the Potsdam data-processing center since its completion in 1972. Composed of 18 panels measuring ca. 3 × 3 m, this frieze is unusually large, yet in its ideological appropriation of science and technology it is a paradigmatic example of public art in the German Democratic Republic. Framed by textual references to Einstein and Marx, Eisel’s mosaic glorifies the progress of industry, agriculture, and administration, but first and foremost of aviation and space flight. This essay examines the mosaic in the context of the “scientific-technical revolution” officially proclaimed in 1964, and with a view to its site, which is fraught with historical implications.
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