Martin Roemers: The relics of the cold war

Galerija Simulaker, Vrhovčeva ulica 1a
Open: 26.7. : 19h – 21h, 27.7. – 7.8.: 12h – 20h
Sunday closed.

Summer 1983. I’m on holiday with a friend in Germany. We’re walking through a wood in an easterly direction. It must be there. Through the trees we see something grayish. We can’t go any further. There’s a concrete wall in front of us. There’s nothing else to see. Except for the singing birds it is quiet. We walk along the wall until we reach a watchtower. A soldier is sitting inside and he looks at us. I take a picture of the lonely man in the tower. He takes a picture of us.

Fall 1989. The wall has fallen. I’m a photography student at the art academy. I drive through East Germany in my old car. On the way I pass countless Russian barracks. It looks like a completely different world from the outside. I wonder what they look like inside. I walk to the front gate and ask for permission to take a few pictures. “Njet,” they say.

... more on the story in festival catalogue at all venues