Anne Diestelkamp
cultural programmer, artistic researcher/ editor and translator
Night Walk and Participatory Performance
Tobias Zielony and Christine Plohmann
Vacant Site of the Former Wolfen Film Factory, Germany
2024
For 85 years, Wolfen was a center of film production — first under Agfa, later under ORWO — manufacturing both color and black-and-white film. Working conditions, however, were extremely challenging: women responsible for coating the film spent their eight-hour shifts in near-total darkness, enduring extreme heat or cold. Over time, their eyes adjusted to the darkness, and their hands learned the precise movements required without needing to see.
Together with photographer Tobias Zielony, who has long researched the history of the Wolfen film factory, and former film factory worker Christine Plohmann, we invited participants to navigate the site at night, equipped with red and green flashlights — the only light sources the factory workers would have had. The audience was invited to imitate the gestures and motions of the factory workers at the machines. Through this immersive experience, participants developed a physical understanding of what it meant to work in almost complete darkness, gaining insight into the skill, endurance, and resilience such labor demanded.
📷 Falk Wenzel