Deutsch
English
Background information
"An unusual body of evidence, an artistic perspective on the legacy of East Germany’s secret police - In the archives of East Germany’s Stasi secret police, officially named the 'Ministry for State Security', there are countless photographs of failed escape attempts at the Berlin Wall.Content
In this visual collage, 'Reenactment MfS', Arwed MESSMER presents a selection of these photos and further images of official evidence from the holdings of 'The Agency of the Federal Commissio-ner for the Stasi Archives'. The result is an arresting, complex collage of found, retouched, and recontextualized visual records and MESSMER’s own photographs—a working method described by photo critic Gerry BADGER as 'an artistic reevaluation of history.'
Twenty-five years after the fall of the Wall, 'Reenactment MfS' takes a new look at a major theme in recent German history, with an alternative approach to understanding contemporary history and to the use of photography. With what Florian Ebner describes as 'documentary empathy,' Arwed MESSMER challenges the authenticity of the documentary image, which is never completely free of “enactment.” (© Hatje Cantz, 2014)
About German photographer, Arwed MESSMER (b.1964)
Photo books by as well as with works by Arwed MESSMER
- Book design
- Carsten EISFELD
- Format
- HC (no dust jacket, as issued), 17,5 x 24,5 x 2,5 cm., 256 pp. + appendix, 148 color & b/w ills., bilingual texts: German / English