The Swedish artist Mikael Eriksson came to East Berlin in 1988. At Galerie Passage, he met Klaus Killisch, Sabine Herrmann, Beata Palucka and Susanne Rast, who were exhibiting together and had studied at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art. Despite the language barrier, a close connection developed, and Eriksson initially stayed in Klaus Killisch’s studio.

Using an 8mm camera he had received from an artist, Eriksson began filming in artists’ studios and around Prenzlauer Berg. Years later, he reworked the footage, combining the historical recordings with found photographs and his own paintings.

At the centre of the film is Matthias Elsmann, Mikael Eriksson’s alter ego. What began as a search for a supposed origin in East Berlin developed into a multilayered short film about memory, identity and the period of upheaval in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Written, directed, filmed and edited by: Mikael Eriksson
Music: Mikael Eriksson, Klaus Killisch, Jens Lohwieser
Soundtrack: Mikael Eriksson
Voice: Claudia Kühn
Featuring: Klaus Killisch, Sabine Herrmann, Beata Palucka, Sangare Siemsen, Mikael Eriksson, Olle Nyström, among others
Text: Jule Reuter, Mikael Eriksson
Production: Mikael Eriksson / Kompact Living Space, Berlin
Footage: 1989–1990
Duration: 16:13min
Completed: 2013