Friedensgebe
Nikolaikirche, Leipzig, Germany 2015
Commission for Aids Hilfe, part of Friedensgebe (Prayers for Peace) held on World AIDS day
Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas’ Church) came to international attention in 1989 as the epicentre of the ‘Monday Demonstrations’ that led to the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany.
Using projections of text derived from ongoing research into the experience of living with HIV, Ian’s work plays in the politicised space of the church with messages that allude to the sacred. As the audiences’ gaze is drawn by the architecture towards the nave the message ‘This is a blessing in disguise’ hovers before them. On a screen in another part of the church the unknown author asks ‘Do positive things make you speechless?’