“suitcase” (vibrating)

2025/2026

The work “suitcase” (vibrating) is an analogy that originates from events Leo Teufel discovered in his historical research.

The central theme of the research was the use of X-rays and radioactive substances by the Ministry for State Security against opposition figures in the GDR. Leo Teufel transfers the equipment and its uses from that time into a field of tension between humor and seriousness today. The idea of surveillance and tracking methods that accept a health risk to the target person is fixed here in objects such as the suitcase or the X-ray image itself.
At the same time, there are references to GDR aesthetics that can make a historical assessment subversively possible.

The suitcase is the central motif of the work and functions as a living black box. The possibility of a reaction is revealed in an X-ray image, which provides insight into the closed device. The suitcase has no real use. This renders obsolete the original idea of a sensor that triggers a reaction and provides insights. It is a closed circuit that ultimately only emits noise.