Fragile – Die Wasserläufer

Twenty years after my first participation in the ‘Einschluss 2’ exhibition (2006) in the former Stasi prison in Erfurt, Germany, I am returning to this place with a new sound and intermedia installation ‘Die Wasserläufer’ (The Water Striders). Curated again by Manfred May, the exhibition titled ‘Fragile. Die Häutung der Schlange’ commemorates the history of this place and our engagement with it. Today, the prison is a Memorial Site.

Starting from a gesture of refusal, my installation creates a physical barrier in the centre of one of the prison cells, which appears simultaneously as a horizontal and a suspended sound surface. In the course of the development process, materials have been discovered that, in one way or another, embody this gesture or relate to the processes of the other artists in the exhibition. Organic materials are combined with copper, glass, and electronics. Thin chestnut twigs, woven together to form a lattice, provide the necessary strength to support the other elements. Collected ‘barren’ chestnuts, a symbol of Kyiv, have been given a red wax core that protects the interior of their shells. Spiky and soft elements combine, evoking the sealing of prison cells in 1989 to protect the files stored within. The glass tiles running transversely, wired to piezo-ceramic elements, act as sound-emitting surfaces and test the limits of small copper wires as they work against gravity.

The exhibition open on 11 September 2026, and it runs until end of January 2027.