After two forced migrations in two years, I settled in Berlin. Following my mental breakdown, my physical shell began to deteriorate as well. Amidst numerous challenges and health issues, I suddenly needed a minor operation on my anus. This marked the beginning of my integration into the German bureaucracy.

From that moment on, I was in a long-term struggle with the insurance company to get it done. Meanwhile “the problem” was slowly and confidently growing, eventually becoming a real disastrous monster. At the height of my despair, I had no other option but to send photos of my ass to the insurance clerks, along with the ever-growing stack of documents they demanded. Instead of a simple procedure early on, I ended up needing a serious surgery under general anesthesia and spent almost a week in the hospital.

This work consists of 3061 characters – exactly the total number of characters in the emails sent to the insurance company – and reveals the deep frustration people might experience in the reality hidden behind the image of the welfare state being produced in the recent decades, as well as the overall facade of German migration policies. 

Number of outgoing calls: 101 

Number of incoming calls: 27  

Total duration of calls: 104 min.  

Number of outgoing emails: 63 

Number of incoming emails: 27 

Total number of characters in emails: 3061