Hermann Pitz
Wedding Therese, 1984

Artist
Hermann Pitz

Title
Wedding Therese

Year of creation
1984

Technology and dimensions
of object installation, approx. 250 x 480 x 340 cm

Year of acquisition
2000

Between 1978 and 1987, the founders of the “Berlin Office”, Raimund Kummer, Hermann Pitz and Fritz Rahmann, realized projects and exhibitions at selected locations in West Berlin together with fellow artists. In empty houses and in public spaces, in the theater and in the exhibition space, spatial and situation-related artistic interventions were carried out, which were characterized by “permanent reflection on the context for which and in which the work of art was created: reflection on the place, reflection on the temporary character of the work, reflection on the production conditions of art and the concept of production.” As part of these activities, Hermann Pitz realized the work Restoration of the social space by BÜRO BERLIN in 1982 in a house scheduled for demolition in Berlin-Kreuzberg. On a wallpapered wall, he placed a photographed window view next to a real window and a glazed door. Two years later he used the window element again in a different situation by placing it on a piece of artificial masonry as part of an exhibition in Berlin-Wedding. Together with two pieces of wallpapered wall placed in a corner, a floor fragment equipped with carpet and skirting boards and a draped black fabric, it becomes part of a stage-like installation, illuminated by a spotlight and supported by iron rods. The artist varied this structure several times by placing different small objects on the floor, separating the wall elements or adding a wooden blind. If you get close to the window, you think you are looking into an empty apartment, while from a distance the structure makes you think of a film set. The window forms the border between real and fictitious space, between reality and image: “I observe that the objects perceived through a window also appear like an image (...) at the same time. This is because the decoration behind the glass can also be experienced as a projection onto the window glass. It is the reverse effect of film projection, which gives us the feeling that when we look at the film screen we are also looking into an 'illusory' space. The window glass is therefore the image plane.” Hermann Pitz’s work therefore invites us to reflect on the mechanisms of perception and the production of fictions – such as stories about Therese’s life.

Gabriele Knapstein