THE MISSING ROOM

THE MISSING ROOM

Curated by Pierre Grannoux, assisted by Sarie Nijboer
Artists: Jofroi Amaral I Erik Andersen I Maria Anwander I Ruben Aubrecht I Ornella Fierres I Peter Freitag I Lukas Glinkowski I Rodolphe Huguet I Sophia Pompery I Nina E. Schönefeld

What is the relationship between artists, artworks, and the space in which they are created? What happens when the studio becomes an exhibition space? “The place of creation—the artist's brain—is a secret place whose outward emblem is the studio” (Brian O'Doherty). This exhibition project is about precisely this “secret place.” It is embodied by an approximately 250 square meter windowless room located in the center of the second floor of the Studio ID studio buildingin Alt-Hohenschönhausen. The former building (ID = Intelligence Department) was built in 1985 within the restricted area by the Ministry for State Security and was used for the development, production, and maintenance of various espionage equipment.

The room is “isolated” in two senses: although it is located in the center and surroundedby numerous studios, it has no windows and only two simple doors, which have always been locked, making it barely visible from the outside. From the inside, the walls and ceiling are completely lined with copper, effectively shielding it from the outside world. The room was therefore both bug-proof andradiation-proof and was probably used for secret meetings and for testingespionage equipment or creating computer circuit boards. For the exhibition THEMISSING ROOM, this room is being made accessible to the public for the first time. In the first part of the RESTRICTED AREA exhibition series, a select group of 10 artists explores the room as a secret place, a place of observation and being observed, where traces are examined and brought to light. The perception of historical contexts from today's perspective plays just as much a role in the exhibition as the historical and objective knowledge of places, objects, and people.

Pierre Grannoux