Making of ‘Büro’ (by Thomas Demand, 1995), 2020

The story behind the photograph…

In January 1990, citizens of the dissolved German Democratic Republic (DDR) stormed the headquarters of the State Security in Berlin. The image of the ransacked office subsequently circulated worldwide. Thomas Demand meticulously recreated this press photograph in 1:1 scale using paper and cardboard, only to photograph it once again. Photography thus stands at both the beginning and the end of his artistic process. In this way, Demand investigates the reliability of our perception and photography itself—a fundamental skepticism toward an assumed reality and the possibilities of its communication emerges.