(Archive) “How political are the police?”

What is it?

This project is a form of protest against police brutality in my hometown of Dresden. The telephone, colored in typical police colors, is attached onto a rainwater pipe in just a few seconds. It’s like a parasite in the city and it may remind the pedestrians of an old fashioned emergency telephone. But how can you call someone on this phone when the mouthpiece is missing?
You can’t. Nevertheless, when you pick up the receiver you can hear someone talking to you. There’s a calm voice reading newspaper headlines to you. They’re about multiple incidents where the Dresden police acted out their right-wing beliefs while working.

Hearing these headlines should make you question the police and their work. How can we prevent this awful behavior? Is that the kind of organization we can trust?
To read more about each headline you simply scan the QR-code on the sticker above the phone. Or click here: https://t.ly/EMNX

This project aims to create process of change on a very personal level. The recipients are challenged to question their own view on the police and their work. They are confronted with alarming facts but in a very intimate and emotional way. The person on the phone is talking to them in a factual but kind of depressing manner. This interaction creates a quiet moment where you have the chance to just reflect on yourself, instead of having to justify or argue your opinion to someone.

Through the help of design the recipients are faced with fundamental political questions. To really push those recipients on thinking and reflecting on police behavior, they need to be confronted with the topic more than just the one minute of listening to an audio. By scanning the QR code above the phone they can access a website with corresponding sources and deeper explanations. This should encourage people to do their own research on the topics and come up with own questions. The multimedia installation is more than just a shocking intermezzo, it also provides context, knowledge and therefore acts as a sustainable starting point for changing our way of thinking.

„Who do you call when you can’t trust the police anymore?“ was the leading question for this project. The solution to bringing it into critical discourse, naturally, was to design an emergency telephone.

It is made obvious that the police as an organization has its flaws and needs changing. It’s essential for the public to be aware of their power in democratic changes, everyone can and should involve themself in political matters. The police’s behavior concerns everyone and we all have the responsibility to critique and reform this organization.