Leipzig '89 vs herman de vries. traces

“Leipzig ‘89” is a multilingual audio guide, which leads to 20 original sites of the democratic change in 1989/90, situated in the urban area of Leipzig, where there took place important actions leading to the fall of the SED dictatorship. The GPS-supported city tour explains the particularity, complexity and uniqueness of the entire event Peaceful Revolution in Leipzig. The project’s basis is the stele exhibition “Sites of the Peaceful Revolution”. The steles are made of expanded metal, which was used for border fortifications in the GDR. This fact points out special actions of the political resistance in Leipzig. This exhibition does not only show the most known events like the decisive Monday demonstration on October 9, 1989, the occupation of the Stasi headquarters on December 4, 1989 and the first free parliamentary election on March 18, 1990. It also presents smaller, but not less important actions of the civil rights movement. The city tour shows the chronological and spatial development of the Peaceful Revolution, as well as the change of the city since 1989. It reminds of the power of the democratic idea, which helped the citizens to free themselves from the SED dictatorship. “Leipzig ‘89” presents impressively an important chapter of the German history, as well as the important role of Leipzig as city of Peaceful Revolution. The app makes the events of the Peaceful Revolution visible and audible and also sensually experienceable. GPS-supported maps and route navigation lead the user directly to the different sites. With the help of QR codes on the steles you can download the app directly on mobile devices or call up the respective station on the app. A lot of original photos, documents and contemporary film material completes the information on the steles and the audio guide.

A media guide for the art project “traces” by herman de vries in the steigerwald forest This media guide has been created in close collaboration with the artist herman de vries as a guide through his project “traces” in the steigerwald forest. The dutch-born artist has lived in this area of germany’s lower franconia region since 1970. “traces” was presented to the public on his 75th birthday in july of 2006. The project consists of 28 short philosophical texts and text fragments carved in stone and gold-plated that are spread around the northern area of the Steigerwald forest, most of which are located in inconspicuous sites concealed within the forest. In addition to the texts there are also 15 small golden dots known as “raumpunkte”, or “points in space” in English for you to discover. The guide introduces the artist and his project, and provides descriptions of all the “traces”, many in his own words and voice. The directions and instructions are deliberately brief in accordance with the artist’s intention for you to move attentively through the natural surroundings and to stimulate your thinking. The media guide is free of charge.