Stefan Hunstein (*1957 inKassel) repeatedly works with photographic source material, which in his eyes is testimony to our collective memory. In the past several years, he has been exploring recent German history with the aid of images dating from the thirties to the sixties.In his work, Schön war’s! (It was nice!) from 2007–08, Hunstein employed postcard motifs from the young Federal Republic of Germany from the fifties and sixties, manipulating the images and adding color to some of them. He was particularly interested in the question of the ideals and desires of a society in a phase of reconstruction. And since picture postcards reveal much about the ideals and self-perception of a society, all told the works create an impressive “panorama of longing” in a society shaken by war. Exhibition schedule: Villa Merkel, Esslingen, March 28–June 6, 2010Stefan Hunstein (*1957 in Kassel) lives and works in Munich. Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Academy of Music and Performing Arts) in Stuttgart. Recipient of the 1991 Deutscher Fotopreis (German Photography Prize). Hunstein's photographs have been seen in numerous solo and group shows.