Thomas Demand
Parliament, 2009

Artist
Thomas Demand

Title
Parliament

Year of creation
2009

Technology and dimensions
C-print, 180 x 223 cm

Year of acquisition
2010

Acquisition of the foundation

“I often watch Bundestag debates from before in Phoenix, with Helmut Schmidt, Franz Josef Strauß, Herbert Wehner. At some point I noticed that there were only three viewing angles for the cameras, one the long shot from the left, one from the top right and the view into the plenum. This reduction has made the old Bundestag an icon. When the angles were determined, it was of course not about aesthetic questions, but simply about showing who said what. […] These are the images I have in my head when I think of the Bundestag: Chancellor Schmidt is studying files. Kohl sits smugly with his arms crossed and looks into the plenary session. Sometimes the Chancellor is not there, then the chair remains empty, always visible from the fixed viewing angle. The effect of this setting is enormous: the actors who sit on the chair change, but the chair remains. […] It's different in Berlin, the glass building invites you to take photos and film from all sides, which is nice on the one hand. On the other hand, the power in this important place appears to be frayed. […] Take the design of the podium, the golden buttons, the wooden beams, which are supposed to radiate value and stability. The buttons are of course not made of gold, but of brass, the wood is also cheap, but you feel that it was important back then to convey a feeling of security. The design exudes a subdued, heavy, even melancholic mood, which interested me. In contrast to the tidy royal blue of the seat covers today. The builders of the Bonn Parliament had experienced different times.”

If we assume that there are collective images of a society and a time, then this is certainly one of them, namely for the post-war society of the Federal Republic of Germany. Thomas Demand's view focuses on a small section of the Bundestag in Bonn. Viewed neutrally - more precisely, taking into account our collective visual memory - it is an arbitrary and unrepresentative image field. It is only through the resonance that Demand's work triggers in us that the picture acquires its specificity.