Neue Wache (English: The New Guard), 2015
Isaac Chong Wai
HD Video 10:52min with frame
Maxim Gorki Theater, Neue Wache, Berlin
In the work, we see Isaac Chong Wai from the back, covering the image of the Neue Wache—exhibiting the renowned sculpture Mutter mit totem Sohn (1937-1938) by Käthe Kollwitz—from the building of Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theatre. Slowly, the breath of the artist covers the back facade of the Neue Wache. The breath leaves its traces on the window; what we see is only an after effect of the breath. People are gone and we still desire to preserve the past—as our breath floats away and we only see its traces on the window, hiding vague memories.
The Neue Wache was originally built as a guardhouse for the troop of the crown prince of Prussia. Since 1931, the building has been a memorial site for war. Throughout history, the building was used to commemorate different victims with respect to different political perspectives, from the Kingdom of Prussia, to Weimar Republic, to Nazi Germany (Third Reich), to GDR, and to the Reunification of Germany. Who are the victims and perpetrators to remember at the Neue Wache? Looking at the back of the building Neue Wache, which was originally used to guard to the city, from a window behind at the Maxim Gorki Theater, the image of the Neue Wache is “covered” and “painted” in this work. The breath which covers the window is made by video after effect collecting the different moments of the artist’s breath. The work creates a picture that reality never reaches–a blurred memorial by human breath or a struggle to prove the signal of living. Chong explores the idea of how the memory was artificially presented in a form of architecture and questions where is the human breath?