DANA MELAVER

Sheets of paper wrap around an abandoned office, as the artist works to reveal a hidden photograph. Bits of paper fall to the ground, covering the carpet of the office floor. As visitors move through the space, they are invited to participate in the labor of releasing image from paper. With a mist of water and the touch of fingers, by the end of the weekend, only the image will remain.

Telegrafenberg is based on the original telegraph network of the German Confederation, spearheaded by Siemens & Halske around the time of the March Revolution. Working together on this piece, we may explore the possibilities and imperfections of human communication: of body language, of paper and print, and of the virtual and proto-virtual. We may question the ways networks support community and the ways they establish control.

Telegrafenberg was installed at Localize Potsdam 2022.

As the days went on, I began to think that maybe this piece was about windows. On the third day, I hung my head out the window to speak with two of the other participating artists. Over the weeks of working on site, we become a small artist village, sharing tools, food, and encouragement. While I spoke through the window, visitors rubbed paper away from the office windows and played with the blinds, hiding and revealing the process. A visitor on the inside of the office tapped the glass, and one from the outside found his hand. Through the image, they found each other.

I spent the month working on Telegrafenberg thinking it was about networks; how they connect people, but also that there are always the individuals who determine the paths. Suddenly, it occurred to me that while the wires in my photograph that connect windows to each other represent an unnecessary system. We are already connected to each other – we just have to open the windows.

It began with a map of a Telegraph network, and an image crept into my mind. I imagined a building in which the windows connected to each other like a switch-board or modular synthesizer. From then it became a collection of images, photographed around the former East Berlin: Alexanderplatz, Treptow, and Marzahn. I then printed each building and mounted it on kapa, fitting together a three-dimensional collage. After wiring the windows together, in line with the telegraph network – each window representing a different city – I photographed the piece with a large format camera. This image was then split into fourteen windows and then each window was broken down into smaller images (around eighty rectangles per window). In the two weeks leading up Localize Festival 2022, artist and friend Anna Rezzolla helped cut and adhere the micro-pieces back together, to create the base for each window. Finally, I painted each of the fourteen pieces with multiple layers of the transfer gel and hung them up. Inside the office, a final image was visible. On the outside, the office was wrapped in paper.

During the span of three days, visitors were invited to wet the paper and rub it away, in order to reveal the translucent image. Anyone could also play with the internal blinds, band by that changing the experience of the piece and process. The office itself became an art office, with tools and supporting objects used throughout the process, including work overalls, scissors, misters, and a GDR radio.

Much of the paper removed has been collected in the hopes of making new paper from the remains.