Zu vermieten- à louer, Büro 2, black and white photograph lit from behind by a neon light, 2,65 x 1,30m, 1998-2003
For Rent / À louer /Zu Vermieten,
Display windows of the French Institute in Berlin, 1999
At the invitation of the French Institute in Berlin, Natacha Nisic produced a series of black-and-white photographs of newly built and still unoccupied offices on Friedrichstrasse, a former major thoroughfare in East Berlin. These photographs, which question the standardized reconstruction of the reunified capital, are displayed in the windows of the French Institute, at the corner of Kurfürstendamm and Uhland Strasse, in the heart of former West Berlin.
Lit from behind, they represent a 21-meter-long uninterrupted sequence of these architectural spaces. The artist has matched this strip of light with a set of color slides on the other side of the street, which are projected in pairs and continuously. They show close-up details of gestures, clothing, and objects. In this context, the color slides accentuate the emptiness of these offices awaiting functionality. The installation conveys the extent to which the norms and stereotypes of architectural construction determine and restrict the life they are supposed to house.
Exhibitions
Raus/aus-raus, Le plateau, Frac île-de-France, solo exhibition 2003
To read about
Entretien Natacha Nisic- Eric Corne-Maëlle dault, Le plateau-Frac île de France
Related works
La salle de projection, video installation, 1997
Vivre / Ikiru, photographies, 2001
