Büro, 1995 (2007)

About the Work

In January 1990, citizens of the nearly defunct GDR stormed the headquarters of the Stasi, the state security services in Berlin. This picture of one of the ransacked offices was published worldwide. Thomas Demand recreated this press photo 1:1 in paper and cardboard and then took a photograph of it. A photograph thus marks both the beginning and the end of his creative process. In this way, Demand examines the reliability of our perception and of photography – giving rise to a fundamental doubt in perceived reality and the possibilities of its mediation.