Installation view, 162 von 172 Häusern stehen an der Hauptstraße…,
Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, 2005


The panoramic triptych projection shows scenes from the periphery of Leipzig. In a non-synchronized and random relation to the images, a soundtrack containing the narrative of a fictitious model village in the suburban zone of the city is spoken by the voice of a young girl or a child.
Like many other East German cities, Leipzig has been shrinking and losing inhabitants since the reunification with West Germany in 1990. At the same time, commerce, industry, and residential areas have been developing in a large suburban zone, affecting the smaller communities on the edge of the city. The soundtrack contains accurate information as to what has typically been added and what has disappeared in an average village on the border of the city within the years since the reunification and the introduction of a capitalist economy. It tells statistics and facts concerning building, working, public transport, infrastructure, demographic movements, etc. It counts and lists the things that have been changed, developed, and which are being planned for the future, thereby describing a parallel process of shrinkage and expansion.


3 slide projections, 243 slides
Audio (English / German)
approx. 20 min.
Voice: Rebecca Bergmann
Audio editing: Katharina Lampert
Translation: Barbara Zorman