In 1995, Annett Gröschner and Arwed Messmer gained access to photographs of the Berlin Wall thanks to the Intermediary Military Archives in Potsdam. At the time of the division, the city was located in the GDR. In an archival box, the two artists discovered a large number of 35mm rolls of film taken by East-German soldiers in 1966 as the wall, which would stand for the next fifty years, was being erected. The artists were fascinated by these photos—as we are—because these are images, previously unseen by Westerners, not only of the wall, but also of the watchtowers, the barbed wire, and the guards.
Not only have the artists arranged the collection thematically, but they also collated photographs to create uncanny and striking panoramas. Hatje Cantz has released these memory-stirring “series” as two large volumes totaling 1328 pages and 1059 panoramas or individual photographs. They are a treasure trove, which the artist scoured for materials. Not only do the artists offer “documentary empathy” (Florien Ebner), but “transform the interpretation of historical facts into a work of art in a creative act” (Gerry Badger). They explore the world to understand it through its singularities, which then acquire a metaphorical dimension.
The book unfolds in two dimensions. While it follows the geography of the wall, the narration may also focus on a situation, thus producing an effect of distancing and vacillation between image and phantasm. The reader not only gets oriented in space, but is also confronted with a suddenly measurable topography. This immense body of documents draws the power of its fragmented stories from a philosophy and an art of montage. The book counters the effects of laws and their guardians. It also shows the acceleration of history from the perspective of a “strong state” exemplified in the twentieth century by Stalinism. The volume illustrates both the glory and the ruin of totalitarianism. What was thought to be indestructible and justified by its own immobility, is dismantled the building bricks of these two volumes.
BOOK
Taking Stock of Power – An Other View of the Berlin Wall”
Annett Gröschner et Arwed Messmer,
2 tomes, german and english
Hatje-Cantz Verlag Berlin; 2016
EXHIBITION
Taking Stock of Power – An Other View of the Berlin Wall”
Annett Gröschner and Arwed Messmer,
From May 27th to Augsut 21st, 2016
Berlin’s Haus am kleistpark
Grunewaldstraße 6
10823 Berlin
Germany
http://www.hausamkleistpark.de
