Pigs like Pigments
Conspiracy Dwellings, Bracknell Gallery//South Hill Park, Bracknell UK, 1 December 2007 - 20 January 2008
Konzept
concept
My Stasi file code-named "Pigment" was opened in 1993. The file mostly contains handwritten and
typewritten texts about myself which the Stasi officer had written down following the verbal
reports given by informelle Mitarbeitern (Informers), or IM. These reports include information
about me, my environment, family, circle of friends and acquaintances, home, activities and plans.
What is written in these files mainly concerns banalities, which through the initial, orally
received interpretation of the informant, and the written-interpretation of the Stasi officer,
become subversively active.
In Pigs like Pigments reconstructs the real facts that lay behind
the contents of my Stasi file, presented from the point of view of the observers. What really
happened and what was reported? Three aspects of information are demonstrated in an installation:
Written reports by the Stasi officer: his personal projections about me that originated from the
verbal reports of the Informant.
The verbal report of the Informant. The note "the IM reported openly and objectively" is often
added at the end of the written report. What did this mean? Was it just a formality or does it
characterize the informant as an upholder of the truth? Could it be that the report was influenced
by the informants own thoughts and perspectives
Testing my memory against the observation of
the Stasi Informant's record of me in the files such as what did I do at a particular place and
time; what did I think; what did I write in my diary; what did I buy; which clothes did I wear?
The three aspects of observation show how ordinary everyday life can be falsely interpreted as
subversive activity, recorded and filed, to be used as evidence against you. As examples they
reflect the misinterpretations and mechanical misconceptions produced by modern systems of "total
observation" which are increasing and haphazard.