Bettina Pousttchi
25 Sep 2009 - 31 Mar 2010
BETTINA POUSTTCHI
"Echo"
09/25/2009 - 03/31/2010 02/28/2010
Just a few months after the last remnants of the Palace of the Republic were removed, visitors of Schlossplatz can now experience an eerie feeling of déjà vu. Bettina Pousttchi’s (*1971) photo installation Echo covers the entire façade of the Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, evoking memories of the just recently demolished building.
Yet Echo is not a true-to-scale or true-to-life reconstruction of this magnificent socialist building. The motif for the circumferential black-and-white photograph is comprised of 970 individual posters. The depiction, which reduces the historical façade to its essential structural components, is based on archival pictures. By means of image processing and further elements, the artist creates a number of disturbing moments. Digitally generated lines are reminiscent of CCTV cameras or early TV images —or of a furtive view through the slats of a lowered blind.
With this mise-en-scène, Pousttchi reflects on the individual’s ability to remember and also on the suggestive qualities of the medium of photography. As an allegedly simulated historical architecture, Echo directly references the changes in the surrounding urban landscape.
"Echo"
09/25/2009 - 03/31/2010 02/28/2010
Just a few months after the last remnants of the Palace of the Republic were removed, visitors of Schlossplatz can now experience an eerie feeling of déjà vu. Bettina Pousttchi’s (*1971) photo installation Echo covers the entire façade of the Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, evoking memories of the just recently demolished building.
Yet Echo is not a true-to-scale or true-to-life reconstruction of this magnificent socialist building. The motif for the circumferential black-and-white photograph is comprised of 970 individual posters. The depiction, which reduces the historical façade to its essential structural components, is based on archival pictures. By means of image processing and further elements, the artist creates a number of disturbing moments. Digitally generated lines are reminiscent of CCTV cameras or early TV images —or of a furtive view through the slats of a lowered blind.
With this mise-en-scène, Pousttchi reflects on the individual’s ability to remember and also on the suggestive qualities of the medium of photography. As an allegedly simulated historical architecture, Echo directly references the changes in the surrounding urban landscape.