“License Plate D” Installation: an interview with German artist Ursula Spannhake1

Abstract

IntroductionUrsula Spannhake was born in 1966, in a town close to Dusseldorf in what was then West Germany. After escaping from Silesia, her mother began working as a young schoolteacher in German Democratic Republic (GDR), but subsequently fled to West after being summarily dismissed from her position. Between 2003 and 2006 Spannhake lived with her family in Dessau, a small town in former East Germany. She now lives in Berlin, where she works both as an occupational therapist for children in city's Charite hospital, and as an artist.Vice-President of British-French Association for Study of Russian Culture, Graham H. Roberts teaches Russian at Universite Paris Ouest Nanterre La Defense, just outside Paris. The author of only English-language monograph on group of Leningrad writers known as OBERIU, he has published on a wide range of topics, including masculinity in Soviet cinema, politics of chocolate and vodka packaging in post-socialist Russia, and recent rebranding of Moscow on social media. The author of a blog on contemporary Russian consumer culture (http://consumer-cultures.u-parislO.fr/), his cun-ent projects include an edited volume on material culture in Russia from Peter Great to Putin, and a monograph entitled Consumer Culture, Branding and Identity in New Russia: From Five-Year Plan to 4x4.Graham Roberts: Although you are from West Germany, you spent three years - from 2003 to 2006 - living in former Before we discuss your Installation, could you possibly say a few words about that experience?Ursula Spannhake: As a newcomer from West (or a Wessi as West Germans are sometimes called), I frequently came across a longing for old GDR, what we in German call Ostalgie. There is no word for this in English, but basically it describes a longing, or nostalgia, for life as it was lived in former What surprised me was extent of this longing. It came in a number of different guises. For example, motto during swimming lessons at my daughter's church-school was: Those afraid of water must have their will broken! In an old, vacant factory building next to my garage someone set up a private, so-called Museum of GDR. Whenever I returned home in evening, I was greeted by an enormous, framed picture of Erich Honecker staring at me through neon-lit windows. He was accompanied by several large illuminated panels of black, red, and gold, complete with hammer and sickle. In my children's gymnastics club instructors regularly shouted military greetings and commands, such as: Stand on line! Hands by your sides! We salute one another vigorously, athletically - freely! It was there too, that I often saw cars with license plate combination DE-DR. Below you can see two examples:One of them is from a car belonging to a Catholic priest, while other is from one of buses of his parish. When read aloud, letters sounds like De-De-Err - or DDR, old Gemian acronym for East Germany. Was this just a coincidence, I wondered, or had it been chosen intentionally?GR: This brings us to your License Plate D Installation. Could you explain idea behind it?US: First, I need to say a little bit more about Gentian car registration number system. I myself have never owned a car, and yet I am fascinated by German number plates. So, in 2009, I began to carry out research at vehicle registration offices. A German number plate consists of a maximum of eight characters. First there are between one and three letters. These are predetermined and refer to place of residence of registered car owner. They are followed by up to two further letters, and then a maximum of four numbers. Since early 1990s it has been possible to choose one's own number For a fee of 10.20 euro one can buy a Wunschkennzeichen or plate. A great many people now avail themselves of opportunity to choose their own personalized vanity plate for their car, which is widely considered to be the Germans' favourite child. …