Closed Spaces

an urban art performance, Eisenhüttenstadt, East Germany.

June – September 1994

August 1995

This extended project combined documentary film-work with  archaeological fieldwork, Phase V of the Borderland ethnography, and implied returns to Berlin and the Polish border, shooting on the same locations as in 1992-93. An interface was arranged with cultural works and artists, followed by filmic preparations for a new site-specific project to take place in Eisenhüttenstadt in 1995.

The urban action/performance in August 1995 was initiated by the creation of a „Fantasielabor‘ ensemble. Its members conducted shoots on several locations, under the direction of Johannes Birringer, with a focus on abandoned sites of cultural production (during communist era). Closed spaces/Verschlossene Räume involved the occupation of the former cultural center (Der Aktivist), squatting performance, manifesto for independent production center, and collaborations with local artists, media and neighborhoods.