VOLLMACHT #2

Intervention (powers of attorney, aluminium frames, parcel drawing 1:500, light box) / 2024

The intervention in the Studio 12 (Halle14 / Spinnerei) is part of my artistic research project about the ongoing post-socialist transformation since 1989/90. Using leftover small plots of land in rural areas that I bought from a subsidiary of the Treuhandanstalt, I investigate their construction and usability.

For the spring tour of the Spinnerei galleries in Leipzig, I continued my intervention and endless edition VOLLMACHT. A light box labelled with the words Vollmacht (power of attorney) and Machtvoll (powerful) advertises the work from distance. Above the shelves are drawings of the respective properties for which powers of attorney can be taken along for inspection of the land register. The powers of attorney allow the authorised representative to visit the local courts responsible for the properties in order to carry out research and prepare extracts. Power of attorney holders can also issue sub-powers of attorney.

The land register is a restricted public register and archive that records sensitive data on ownership as well as archiving historical documents. Among other things, it contains data on expropriation during the Soviet occupation, collectivisation during the GDR period and reprivatisation after 1989/90. However, this data can only be viewed with a "legitimate interest" or by the owner himself and is not available to the public.