When one stands up to a totalitarian regime, the first step is to become visible. By making themselves visible, however, the protesting people in 1989 automatically came into the crosshairs of the SED surveillance state, which is depicted on the evening of the Leipzig Festival of Lights in the form of searchlights sweeping across the façades of buildings. People appear in the windows, are discovered, then disappear back into the darkness. Yet more and more people find the courage to step into the light, to make themselves visible – until the authorities, faced with the sheer number of people, lose control and collapse, overwhelmed.

Project support: Studio Laputa, Danny Manthei/Light_Art_Experience