Installation: viewing platform, construction fence, protective tarpaulin, 3-channel video

For the 25th anniversary of the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Jankowski created Ungläubiges Glück. This work connects the historic event of the Fall of the Wall with the opening of Deichtorhallen Hamburg, two events which coincidentally fell on exactly the same day: The 9th November 1989. Shortly before the anniversary, Jankowski discovered that one of the two halls was still surrounded by a construction fence and therefore closed off to the public. The renovation work could not be completed in time for the celebrations. Having been invited to honor the anniversary with a work of art, Jankowski integrated the construction fence and the division of the two halls, which should actually be together, into an installation. Around the fenced-off hall, he positioned a large-scale three-channel video installation directly behind the construction fence. In the video, flanked by night shots of the “construction fence border zone”, eyewitnesses speak out. The recordings were captured earlier – by night camera as well – in the dark cellar of the enclosed historical hall. People associated with the exhibition hall, such as curators, artists, collectors, and politicians talk about their memories of the fall of the wall. As each witness replaces the words “fall of the wall” with “opening of the exhibition hall”, this cultural event for art lovers becomes unexpectedly emotionally and historically charged. For the installation, Jankowski had recreated one of the viewing platforms often found in West Berlin during the Cold War, so that people could look out over the wall into East Berlin. From this wooden reconstruction, the guests attending the anniversary in Hamburg could look over the construction fence at the deeply moved people in the video installation: “We’re drinking beer and all of a sudden the bar manager says over the counter, ‘The Deichtorhallen has opened.’ We really can’t believe it. I go home and turn on the TV, there are actually people dancing on the Deichtorhallen. Unbelievable! I can’t get my head around it. Things are really going to change now, I think. It can’t go on the way it has been.”