The project was based on the idea that each individual life matters – yet we are always part of smaller or larger communities, collectives in the truest sense of the word – which offer us security but also the freedom to show ourselves as we are. This is why we carefully protect our privacy – it is important to us. Communities, such as families, are the core of society. A look behind the façades reveals countless stories about people, notes on their small successes and their failures alike. Everyday life that reflects our history. Those small, intimate moments and photographs were and still are important witnesses of their time. These private, little‑seen but precious images are at the centre of the projection of everyday pictures from around 1989. They show that we are part of history in every moment – today just as in 1989.

The installation on Augustusplatz consisted of four parts: the video projections onto the “Milchtöpfe” played with memory and everyday images, interpreting them and placing them in new contexts. Both private footage and material from public archives were used. For each projection as well as for the entire square, Marek Brandt composed suitable sounds, and Pina Rücker worked with singing bowls. A large-scale projection on the façade of the opera showed huge pairs of eyes – not just any eyes, but those of Leipzig’s citizens. Thanks to the “Augen auf!” app developed for this purpose, they were able to contribute to the project. The eyes were an invitation to look closely, to recognise grievances and to make them public. Finally, the pergola to the left of the opera became an intimate space for acoustic encounters and playfully invited visitors to experience original sound recordings of contemporary witnesses under eight interactive light and sound showers.