Offene Geheimnisse I (Open Secrets I) — (Blue Violet, Indigo, Payne's Grey, Slate Grey, Bordeaux, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, genuine Indigo, Iron Oxide Red, Bohemian Green Earth)

“Originally constructed on the “Gendarmenmarkt” between 1901-1903, what is now the Leibniz-Hall of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities was originally the cashier's hall of the Prussian Maritime Society, and, as of 1918, the cashier's hall of the Prussian Central Bank. The historic sandstone columns still bear the traces of bullet holes from the Red Army. Entry into the Leibniz-hall is possible from two sides: on the one side, by way of an addition built during the Nazi-era that now houses the offices of the Academy, and on the other side, through the former main entrance of the Maritime Society adorned with a tile floor with a swastika pattern, which was had already been installed at the beginning of the 20th century.
Beginning with the physical spaces of the Leibniz-Hall and the adjoining rooms and buildings, Anna Schapiro developed a work entitled “Open Secrets”. Her approach is informed by a mistrust of representative places. Her works are preceded by a practice of listening to and reading the rooms and exhibition spaces. Historical palimpsest, the force of the past in the present unfolds through her work in new ways. By bringing to the forefront the ways in which the various uses and historical conditions of the space manifest visually, Anna Schapiro compounds these with more layers. Schapiro applies these directly to the floor as prints. Her work takes its impulse from the question that the space itself poses: How can we meaningfully confront the cultural inheritance of this building that is inscribed within a history of colonialism and National Socialism? Through her work, Schapiro poses this question back to the very institutions that invited her into the space. The advance of time and the simultaneous existence of other temporalities that her work makes visible are calls to speak and act, to reassess one’s own position.”

Text: BBAW

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Offene Geheimnisse I (Open Secrets I) — (Blue Violet, Indigo, Payne's Grey, Slate Grey, Bordeaux, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, genuine Indigo, Iron Oxide Red, Bohemian Green Earth)

“Originally constructed on the “Gendarmenmarkt” between 1901-1903, what is now the Leibniz-Hall of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities was originally the cashier's hall of the Prussian Maritime Society, and, as of 1918, the cashier's hall of the Prussian Central Bank. The historic sandstone columns still bear the traces of bullet holes from the Red Army. Entry into the Leibniz-hall is possible from two sides: on the one side, by way of an addition built during the Nazi-era that now houses the offices of the Academy, and on the other side, through the former main entrance of the Maritime Society adorned with a tile floor with a swastika pattern, which was had already been installed at the beginning of the 20th century.
Beginning with the physical spaces of the Leibniz-Hall and the adjoining rooms and buildings, Anna Schapiro developed a work entitled “Open Secrets”. Her approach is informed by a mistrust of representative places. Her works are preceded by a practice of listening to and reading the rooms and exhibition spaces. Historical palimpsest, the force of the past in the present unfolds through her work in new ways. By bringing to the forefront the ways in which the various uses and historical conditions of the space manifest visually, Anna Schapiro compounds these with more layers. Schapiro applies these directly to the floor as prints. Her work takes its impulse from the question that the space itself poses: How can we meaningfully confront the cultural inheritance of this building that is inscribed within a history of colonialism and National Socialism? Through her work, Schapiro poses this question back to the very institutions that invited her into the space. The advance of time and the simultaneous existence of other temporalities that her work makes visible are calls to speak and act, to reassess one’s own position.”

Text: BBAW