works 2017 - 2021
celestial bodies
Fine Art Prints on Alu Dibond, 100 x 100 cm. 2020/21
A shape was extracted from image noise and copied and rotated many times. Analogous to how a cell multiplies and a new organism is formed as a result. Light and shadow merge the forms into a unity, a fantastic star in the realm of possibilities.
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SHUTDOWN
hd video 2020, 2:23 min.
Oktoberfest hustle and bustle under a bright blue sky. The announcement of an amusement ride "All good things must come to an end" "The game is up" seems normal. It changes its meaning as everything slows down more and more, the movements of people and rides, but also the voice of the announcer, which thereby appears more and more inhuman. The sky closes in, the colours desaturate, the picture becomes more wide-angled, until finally everything has frozen and the final picture appears like a faded old photograph.
TRANSMIGRATION
Installation 2019, approx. 80 polyethylene moulds and video projection, 38:05 min. loop, 400 cm high, 725 cm wide, 350 cm deep
Strange white ghostly light beings wander across the wall in an endless, calm and silent procession and disappear on the other side of the wall. Like a soul migration of countless different, unknown beings. On the floor their physical shells lie lifeless, dark soft forms, lined up next to and above each other.
The creatures were extracted from enlarged white noise and lined up one after the other.
Transmigration, installation views Haus der Kunst, München, 2019. Photos: Werner Josten (left), Florian Holzherr (right)
PILLARS OF THE COSMOS
fine-art prints on alu dibond, 2019, 300 x 60 cm, uniques
Noise has no sense for us, because we cannot see order in it. This changes as soon as the design and order principle of reflection is used. Mirror symmetry is one of the main concepts of nature, which man also uses in culture.
There is a very old idea that the vault of heaven is supported by four columns, which are in the signs of the solstices and the day and night glides.
Sketch and installation view, Stadtkunst, Regensburg, 2019
COLLECTIVE DREAMS
hd video, 70:20 min., 2019, live performance with the munich modern jazz orchestra
A world emerges from image noise and the cycle of life of man and nature begins. Love and trust as well as aggression and destruction are part of it. One changes into the other. In the middle everything burns in hellfire. From this the phoenix rises as a symbol for rebirth and immortality and flies over snow-covered forests to a mountain peak. But also the mountain landscape dissolves. A cosmonaut appears and flies into space. Pulsars dance. Microcosm and macrocosm mix. The world dissolves and the journey goes through a wormhole into endless fantastic galaxies.
World premiere on April 4th, 2019, Black Box, Gasteig, Munich
Collective Dreams, still, 2019
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8 VOICES
interactive 8-channel hd video installation, 2019, Art Pastoral St. Paul, Munich
The installation refers to a quotation from St. Paul saying that women have to be silent in public. Eight women from different backgrounds with different professions, all very committed in their field, make statements about what is important to them. The visitor sees these women on monitors on the back of the last row of banks on the north side (the women‘s side). He can see from the facial expressions and gestures that they have something important to say. But he doesn‘t hear them because the sound has been turned off. You have to keep silent in the church as Paul demanded. Whoever wants to give them a voice, wants to hear their message, must go to a link on the Internet and enter a password there. Whenever a group is marginalized, silenced, it takes special effort to listen to them.
A & O
permanent installation, 2018, acrylic glass forms, backyard in Munich at Rotkreuzplatz
There was an a and an o randomly found in waste. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet. Thus, they became the symbol of beginning and end. I take individual forms of noise, apply rules to them and attribute to them a meaning. That‘s how I developed a font of noise shapes. The 26 black acrylic glass objects are this noise alphabet. In purely formal terms, this frieze unites the wall into one unit. The green roof in front of the wall is a clearly defined piece of nature which was arranged into an order by human beings. Analogously, the noise alphabet consists of randomly selected elements of chaos that have been ordered and assigned meaning. Sense and meaning are not present from the outset, but arise through agreements within a culture.
Installation views
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ELF KING
plotted forms on the wall, 17 polyethylen foam mats with cut out forms, monitor with video animation, 2018, 300 x 300 x 350 cm (LBH)
The installation is about the development of culture and meaning.
A font with noise forms was created by giving arbitrarily chosen noise forms a meaning. On the wall is the poem "Elf King" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Foam mats with huge cut outs of noise letters are lying on the floor. On the monitor the noise letters are transforming into each other.
PLATO'S CAVE OR THE INFINITE ALPHABET
video installation, 38:32 min., Munich sewerage, 2017. Together with installations of Peter Gregorio and Susanne Pittroff (sugar pendulum)
The installation is about the infinity of ideas.
The individual elements of white noise are infinitely diverse and of peculiar beauty. Each form is part of an infinite alphabet of noise. They are passing by as shadows on the wall as in plato‘s allegory of the cave. They are the ideas of another world, of an alien world of possibilities.
STAY AWHILE! YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!
installation, video loop 1:05 min., demonstration signs, performance, UNPAINTED goes Faustfestival, Munich, 2018.
The sentence of the demonstrants is "Verweile doch, Du bist so schön!" (Stay awhile! you are so beautiful!). Faust, greedy and dissatisfied, promises his soul to Mephisto, if he should say this sentence to the moment. But nothing can stay. Everything will pass.
Foto: Werner Josten
Supernovas and other agglomerations
drawings, pencil or ink on paper, 2017f., different sizes
INTERFERENCES OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
drawings of noise, pencil on paper, 2017, different sizes
Elementary pieces of noise are interfering with other elementary pieces and start to interact.
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24 MULTIVERSES OF NOISE: FRAME 000:00:00:00:01 - 000:00:00:01:00
acryl glas objects in 24 glas boxes, 2017 ongoing, 8.27" x 6.22" x 11.69"/ 21,0 x 15,8 x 29,7 cm
The particles of every frame painting could be thrown out in countless arrangements. Every frame is a multiverse of possibilities. Every noise painting has a corresponding glas box with all of the noise particles.
ONE SECOND OF NOISE: FRAME 000:00:00:00:01 - 000:00:00:01:00
24 paintings, acryl on canvas, 2016/2017 ongoing, 5.25 x 6.56' / 160 x 200 cm
Each painting shows one frame of a video recording of white noise. 24 paintings represent one second.
There is no compositon, no order, nothing to recognize. The paintings might show the primeval chaos, the primordial soup. They are paintings at point zero, long before or after the image noise of today.
The forms have the potential to develop into everything. One frame later they have decayed and form a completely different image.
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SAMPLE SHEETS OF AN INFINITE ALPHABET
foil on handmade paper, 2017 ongoing, 22" x 30.71" / 56 x 78 cm
The single elements of noise are infinitely diverse and of peculiar beauty. Every form is part of an infinite alphabet of noise. The arrangement on sample sheets is based on the tradition of sample books.
works 2011 - 2016
SWAMP OF REALITY
Analog and digital painting, print and acryl on canvas, 2016, 4.27 x 7.55' / 130 x 230 cm
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WHITE NOISE MEMORIES
Digital paintings, 2013/2014, sizes between 3.94' x 5.91' / 120 x 180 cm and 4.27 x 7.55' / 130 x 230 cm
The large-format canvases stand for our individual collection of memories. They are based on subjectively chosen frames from videos mixed with white noise showing individual moments of detailed, sharp image noise, each of them one chosen, fruitful moment of memory.
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Objects emerge out of a sea of image noise and transform into other objects. These chains of associations cannot be logically explained. A light, a regular beeping tone accompanies the monotonous sound of white noise.
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MERRY-GO-ROUND
The video focuses on the construction of reality through words. The observer is circled by an endlessly revolving room with no door. The names of some of the objects appear, drawing our attention to them and giving them some kind of order. With each turn of the room, however, the objects are named and categorised differently.
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TEA FOR MADELEINE
Sound installation, 4:05 mins, table with a pot of lime blossom tea, two cups, a plate of madeleines, stools, headphones, 2015
A single trigger brings to mind different relics of the past in different people. This sound installation presents a conversation over tea in which both speakers are presented with the same stimulus words. Each one to drifts off into a very different world as they follow the word.
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HAMLET'S MILL
Animated high resolution video (2880 x 1080), 1-channel, with sound, 61 min, 2013
The video shows the Earth as a piece of meadow on which sheep peacefully graze, unaware of the cosmic machinery operating around them. Water flows freely. The rafters of the cosmos creak under the strain but do not yet break. The sky is a cloudy sky, a silvery machine, a sea of sky, a sky of cloth.
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DRIFTWOOD
Video, 1-channel, with sound, 15:35 min, 2011
The video shows a route leading through a labyrinth of rooms. On their walls are photos of further rooms, which act as doors to new (memory) spaces.
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TRAPPED
HD video, 1-channel, no sound, 27:07 min, 2011
Somebody is exploring an invisible barrier by touching it with his fingers. He leaves more and more fingerprints in the process. The longer the person tries to establish the nature of their confines, the more enclosed they become. Finally, the surface is completely covered in fingerprints and the hands can no longer be seen.
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ETSI OMNES EGO NON
The sentence “Etsi omnes ego non” (“Even if all others..., I will not.“) is repeated over and over by many different voices. It is initially cited with meaningful intonation by numerous individuals speaking at different times and speeds. Gradually a rhythm sets in. Not until everybody chants the sentence in time does it actually become comprehensible – but also somewhat absurd.
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KITCHNAPPING GOES SHOPPING
installation with 10 shopping carts, 10.000 flyers, video, diashow, performance, 2011
The exhibition space was situated in a 1970s shopping mall. Opposite it is a large discount store. 10,000 flyers were produced. They presented works of art in the look of supermarkets leaflets publicising special offers. They were then handed out to passers-by and dropped into people’s mailboxes. Shopping carts piled high with many of the 10,000 brochures stood in the exhibition space.
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THE GIFT
Interactive HD-video installation, no sound, 2011
The visitor is sitting at a table in front of the projection screen. The table seems to continue into the video. On the other side of the table – in the video - sits a person with a gift package. S/he silently offers it to the visitor. When the visitor reaches for the gift, it is handed over. If the visitor doesn‘t take the gift, s/he won’t get out of the loop.
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works 2003 - 2010
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THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE
Interactive installation for two places, with sound, 26:21 min, security camera, black box with orange cotton, 2010
The screen at place A shows visitors the fun that appears to be happening at place B, where a group of people open a large box marked “Hare”. Spontaneously, they decide to use its contents to create an over-sized hare of their own. When the onlooker from place A goes to place B to join the fun, s/he finds the same people now appear to be building the hare at place A.
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THE SIRENS
Sound installation, 9:39 min, 2010/2016
The spoken piece for four voices is made from wishes and descriptions from personal ads in a German newspaper: Two female voices describe how women see themselves and how men wish them to be; two male voices describe how men see themselves and how women want them to be. The piece is spoken in a monotonous machine-like rhythm.
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In the video installation the portraits of seven men and seven women gradually change into the digitally constructed portraits of "Adam" and "Eve".
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The "Secret Performance" is not announced. Seven men and seven women identically dressedmix under the visitors of an opening, - usually unnoticed.
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Foto: Werner Josten
BRAINWASH
Sound installation, loop, 114 min, 2009
A speaker reads the corporate values and guidelines of the companies listed on the German stock exchange in the dry and smooth style of a newscaster.
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1001 SECRETS
Installation, interactive project, performance, ongoing since 2008
1001 secrets are collected. As soon as they are complete, they will all be betrayed. The envelopes with the secrets will be opened and the secrets printed out on large posters in Braille. The 1001 secrets will be read out by a blind person in a public performance.
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CHRONOS' SONG
Animated video, 1-channel, with sound, loop, 2:08 min, 2008
A man is sitting in a camper van. His eyes are closed and the glass in the windows around him is frosted. He moves in time with the sound of dripping water. Or maybe it’s the dripping water that moves in time with him.
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THE FROG QUEEN
Animated HD video, 1-channel, no sound, 7:00 min, 2007
The actress immerses herself in the emotional world of the princess in the fairytale of The Frog Prince. The story is told by means of her facial expressions.
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HEIDILAND
Animated video, 1-channel, no sound, 10:00 min, 200
The video represents a fantastic and playful history of a mountain landscape with quotations from the history of art.
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Room Without A View
Video loop, 1-channel, without sound, 6:45 min, 2006
The scene is a small hotel on an industrial estate in the countryside. A morning photograph from the window of one of the guest rooms fades into an evening picture of the same view. The result is something linear that looks like time but actually consists of two points with nothing in between.
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SAMMY, THE FERRYMAN
Animated video, 1-channel, no sound, 5:07 min, 2005
The video shows a symbolic trip into the realm of the dead. The same two pictures alternate at three-second intervals. The surroundings fade in the dark and the colour and life seep out of the figures. Finally the figures grow rigid, illuminated by a cold, otherworldly glow.
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GUARDED PARKING MARRAKESH
Video, 1-channel, no sound, 6:55, 2003
In this film the action is imperceptible, yet the change unmistakable. During the course of the video
43 people and objects disappear - unnoticed.
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REFLECTIONS
About 100 sq. m., digitally made from 2000 photos, printed on glass, mounted on 6 walls, 2 of them with lighting boxes in the back
Permanent installation across five storeys of the House of St John building (Johannesfoyer) in Saarbrücken, Germany, 2011
The ground floor shows images of sheep on a sunny meadow. These are reflected in the water on the second floor of the building, dissolving and transforming more and more as the observer moves to the higher floors. The work was inspired by the neoplatonic concept of the immaterial light soul, which strives to escape the prison of the material body and rise to the sky.
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permanent installations
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cooperations
K-GEIST 100
Interactive multipart Installation, together with Jutta Burkhardt, started 2012, ongoing project
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BLENDWERK
cooperation with Klaus Erich Dietl and Stephanie Müller, 2016
Blendwerk consists of the staged photography Army of Surfaces and the videos The Dill Pronciple and Global Players.
All of the three works are about facades:
Facades of architecture and in fashion in >> Army of Surfaces
Facades in the life of artists in >> The Dill Principle
Facades and incomprehensible rules in >> Global Players
All of the works were started during a residency in the Ukraine 2015.
Army Of Surfaces
Distances, Destinies, Destinations
Animated HD video, 1-channel, with sound, 5:42 min, 2015
The Ukrainian activist Olya Mykhailiuk is telling about the situation of people who suddenly have to leave their homes and walk away from the war. A male computervoice neutralizes the story.
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