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Christian Boltanski
“Archive of German Members of Parliament” (©German Bundestag/Nowak-Katz)
born 1944 in Paris, lives in Paris.
The main theme of French artist Christian Boltanski’s work is our perception of the past. Relating this theme specifically to the Reichstag Building, he has installed an “Archive of German Members of Parliament” in the basement of the east entrance. Metal boxes are labelled with the names of the Members who were democratically elected to the German parliament between 1919 and 1999.
The ‘archive boxes’ are stacked in two blocks opposite one another. The narrow passageway formed between them is dimly lit by carbon filament lamps. From the outside, the ‘archive boxes’ resemble brick walls, a metaphor for the foundations that support the whole parliamentary structure and thus an arresting symbol of Germany’s parliamentary tradition.
