INFRARED NIGHT SHOTS (DDR, 1980-1982)
The cultural and political climate in East Germany in the early 1980s was stifling. Expressions of art were only permitted if they showed happy citizens single-mindedly working together in constructing the socialist society. With his photo series Infrared Night Shots the East German photographer Erasmus Schröter tried to visualise the sombre mood among the people. Using an infrared camera and invisible flash he photographed people in large, dark spaces – solitary, withdrawn, without direction or perspective. Using this surreptitious technique, Schröter wanted to provide an implicit critique on a state that used similar technology to keep its citizens under surveillance. To avoid censorship, the photographs were only shown to others in the Leipziger Kunsthochschule or in their homes.
