Zeichen / Sign

Site-specific installation, 4-part neon ring (diameter 3.60 m) at the former Palace of the Republic, Berlin – as part of VOLKSPALAST, 2009 (destroyed when the building was demolished)

Zeichen takes up the form of the former “Hammer and Compasses” symbol on the façade of the Palace of the Republic. It circumscribes the surface of this marking with a circle of white neon tubes and thus becomes a clearly visible sign itself. At the same time, of course, it draws attention to an ideological void; it shows how the Palace of the Republic became an open space in the city when it was gutted.

But the sign also functions as a symbol of the new use, the cultural conversion of the empty space. It made it clear from afar that something new is happening here, that culture is revitalizing the palace.

Former location: now the inner courtyard of the Stadtschloß, Berlin

Photo: Carsten Eisfeld

Unauthorized uses after VOLKSPALAST:

2024 Lenticular postcard, Humboldt Forum / Photos: Gerhard Kiesling & Dirk Enters

2007, Volksbühne, Berlin

2004, Concert Einstürzende Neubauten / Photo: Jens Knappe

2004, Skateboard Event Red Bull / Photo: Unkown