Welcome to Stasi City – Jane and Louis Wilson
The British artists (and twins) Jane and Louis Wilson took their large-format photographs at the former East German state security remand detention centre in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen in 1997. The building, which is now the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, was mainly used to intern political prisoners, dissidents, and people wanting to emigrate.
With their title, Stasi City, the artists point to the infrastructural character of this prison. At the point of their imprisonment there, many prisoners did not even know where they were, or whether they were even still in Berlin.
The authorities would drive the prisoners around in vans for hours to disorient them. The neighbouring flats were lived in almost exclusively by state security staff. This insulated the state security complex, which thus remained a blind spot, not only on the city map, but also among the population.
The photograph displayed in our exhibition is titled Double doors Hohenschönhausen. The double doors were to keep all sound from leaving the interior, with insulation added for good measure. Conversations held in the room were to remain secret.
- Double doors Hohenschoenhausen, 1997, New York // 303 Gallery, USA // © Jane and Louise Wilson
Whether these rooms were actually used for interrogations cannot be established. The interior decoration is boringly stuffy. In their work, Jane and Louis Wilson present the most dangerous side of evil—its banal appearance.
The prison was closed with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today, former inmates lead tours through the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial and recount what happened to them and many others there.
Where is the photograph in the exhibition:
Room 4, ‘Darkness at Noon’
- Double doors Hohenschoenhausen / Doppeltüren Hohenschönhausen, 1997, New York // 303 Gallery, USA // © Jane and Louise Wilson
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