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Structures made of steel
Elena Frickmann, October 2020, published on KubaParis and ARCHIVE I
Jack London was not only known as a journalist and one of the most successful writers of his time, but also as an avowed socialist. In his essay What life means to me, the “born working class” reflects on his longing for social advancement, which began at an early age. He describes the structure of society as a building where he grew up in the basement. His goal is to reach the higher floors of the societal building. London believes that in finding a life more worth living, that he will know more selflessness, noble thinking and intellectual dominance...
Fences: Between Order and Paradoxes
Marc Ries, September 2021, published in ARCHIVE I
On my usual route, I walk past a twin wire mesh fence. It separates a tennis court from the public green space that I use. I can see the players through it, but I cannot change sides. Certain activities presuppose their enclosure and demarcation. Their “being-other” requires a contraption that marks them as such and makes them inaccessible to those who are not part of them – part of this sport, for example – and part of the institution that enables their practice. Thus, according to a first interpretation, it is not private property that is separated from the public realm; rather, it is the division of activities themselves that determines this separation...
Status Quo Ladder - the poetry of a statement
Nils Altland, September 2021, published in ARCHIVE I
On a narrow ledge above the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, an inconspicuous wooden ladder leans against the wall. The oldest evidence of its existence is a woodcut from 1728 on which the ladder is depicted. But it may also have been there for much longer. No one knows for sure. The original function of the ladder is also not entirely clear: was it left there after work on one of the windows was done? Was it once used to enter the church when the gates were closed?
Only one thing is clear: the ladder must not be removed because it is part of the so-called Status Quo...
The ideological rechaining of freedom
Naomi Rado, September 2021, published in ARCHIVE I
Mathias Weinfurter borrows the title of his series of works P.P. from an everyday symbol of Italian-speaking areas. The abbreviation P.P. (proprietà privata) can be found on curbs, monuments, walls, gates and facades. Although P.P. does not refer to the initials of one specific person, it emphatically designates the property claims of individuals. Because, written out, P.P. unmistakably indicates private property. Similar to a nameplate on the cover of a book or on the door of an apartment, the stamp-like marking of space depries it of its common, i.e. public use...
Offenbach-neu
Elena Frickmann, October 2021, published in Offenbach-neu catalogue
Immerath. Etzweiler. Spenrath. Garzweiler. What these places have in common is the fact that they all no longer exist. They fell victim to lignite mining in the so-called Rhenish Lignite Mining Area, a triangle between Aachen, Cologne and Mönchengladbach. Where its residents once lived, the horizon now stretches into the deep. Looking into these opencast mining canyons is reminiscent of the Nothing from Michael Ende's novel “The Neverending Story”, which threatens to swallow up Fantasia while its inhabitants helplessly watch as their world and everything that lives in it gradually disappears. Another motif that runs through “The Neverending Story” is the relation between memory and identity, or rather their loss...
View on the motorway
Christine Dressler, April 2022, published in Wiesbadener Kurier
Traffic chaos reigns in Bellevue-Saal. Around the ground-breaking ceremony for the first Reichsautobahn and sabotage action, on the other hand, side mirrors, exhaust pipes and car floor mats are spread out. Steering wheels and rims blend together right into the stucco above the entrance door. Between the construction site and the sign "Autobahn-Aktion", a directional arrow forbids turning left. Allows only to drive straight ahead or to turn right. Mathias Weinfurter and Theresa Lawrenz's exhibition "130 km/h" already inspires by its title to think about solutions for traffic and environmental problems in the region, from speed limits to electric mobility...
A Colombian portrait with blurs
Peter Stohler, Yvan Sikiaridis, December 2020, published in Storytelling
Ambalema is a sleepy little town on the Rio Magdalena, about four hours west of the Colombian capital Bogotá. When looking for it on Google Maps, one sees a pattern of roads marked blue that can each be explored with Street View. In July 2013, a special vehicle of the Google corporation drove through Ambalema with an almost three-meter-high rack on top equipped with dome cameras taking photos. For reasons of data protection, a filter blurred all faces. The Latin America expert Anna Boldt (*1993) and Mathias Weinfurter (*1989), who studied at University of Art and Design in Offenbach, used these Street View images as the starting point of Miradas Borrosas (2019)...