Reden vs. Schweigen

Site-specific, text-driven audio installation, activated annually on 15 January

Site plan

Aerial view of the former grounds of the Ministry for State Security (GDR) with marked stations.
Site plan: eight stations across the grounds.

OVERVIEW

Reden vs. Schweigen (Talking vs. Silence) is a site-specific, text-driven audio installation on the former grounds of the Ministry for State Security (GDR) in Berlin-Lichtenberg. In a collective listening situation, participants move between eight stations across the site; the texts interweave documentary research with narrative condensation, opening different perspectives on files, memory, and the experience of silence.

AUDIO TEASER

Excerpt from Station 7: Heiko describes what it was like to read his file for the first time.

Note: The audio excerpt is in German.

Read English translation of the excerpt

When I received my file a few years ago and read it for the first time, I did not understand it at all — index cards, various annexes, a mass of copies. There were no explanations whatsoever. The language alone, these strange formulations, this bureaucratic Stasi-German — from a time I had long wanted to forget. Still, I made the effort and read the file again. I was determined to find out whether my brother had anything to do with the fact that I was not allowed to travel to West Berlin for my aunt’s birthday. That was the reason for applying to access my file. What I discovered, however, pulled the ground out from under my feet. It had nothing…

ACTIVATION

The work is activated annually on 15 January as part of the day of remembrance marking the occupation of the former Stasi headquarters.

  • Next activation: 15 January 2026, 6:00 pm
  • Duration: approx. 45 minutes
  • Location / starting point: Ruschestraße 103, Berlin (Campus for Democracy / former Ministry for State Security grounds)
  • Participation: open to the public, free of charge; registration requested; max. 30 participants per round

AUDIO AND AUDIENCE SETUP

  • Up to 30 participants listen simultaneously via wireless radio headphones.
  • The audio tracks are centrally played back; the group moves together between eight stations across the site.
  • The sequence is time-based and guided, while allowing individual perception: each station shifts the focus toward a different aspect of the site, the files, and their aftermath.
  • Language: German

MEDIA

Participant listening at one station using headphones.
Documentation: listening situation at one station.
View across the former Ministry for State Security grounds.
Site-specific context: grounds / station.
Aisle in the Stasi Records Archive with shelves of files.
Stasi Records Archive (interior view).

FACTS & CREDITS

  • Format: Site-specific, text-driven audio installation
  • Site: Campus for Democracy / former Ministry for State Security grounds, Berlin-Lichtenberg
  • Structure: 8 guided stations
  • Duration: approx. 45 minutes
  • Participation: up to 30 participants per round
  • Premiere: 15 January 2020
  • Revivals: 2022, 2023, 2024
  • Next activation: 15 January 2026, 6:00 pm
  • Co-production: Bürgerkomitee 15. Januar e.V. & LUNATIKS
  • Text: Tarik Goetzke & Janette Mickan
  • Direction (recordings) & technical setup: Tarik Goetzke
  • Voices: Christine Rollar, Sebastian Julius Boës, Livia Amelie Goetzke, Luc Bennett Goetzke
  • Sound & sound design: Sebastian Schlemminger
  • Research advisor: Dr. Christian Booß
  • Assistant director: Till Ernecke
  • Interview transcription: Jan Weidner
  • Funding: Senate Department for Culture and Europe; with kind support from Spiegel-TV
  • Photo credits (collected): Christian Klein (aerial/site plan), Edgar Zippel (listening situation), Tarik Goetzke (site, archive)

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