The Architecture of the Invisible
Munich, 1974. A beginning in Germany that leads eventually to the studios of Düsseldorf. Between 1994 and 2000, the halls of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf become a site of formation. The focus is not on the grand or the permanent, but on the assembly of the ordinary. Wood, copper, bronze, polystyrene, and foam meet Christmas tree ornaments, glass, and steel. There is a specific tension in how these materials interact. A half cucumber in formaldehyde sits alongside a plastic chandelier. These are the building blocks for a practice that seeks to map the edge of human knowledge.
The work moves between the microscopic and the cosmic. It occupies the space where astrophysics meets the domestic. In installations like Sonnen (Suns), the life cycle of a star is rendered through glass pedestals, a dried lemon, and a Styrofoam ball. The scale shifts abruptly. One moment, the viewer is confronted with the weight of a black hole; the next, they are looking at a piece of carpet or a metronome. This is a method of making the incomprehensible tangible.
Cosmological Models and Materiality
The subject matter resides in the realms of science, philosophy, psychology, and religion. The artist investigates the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, where objects exist 13 billion light years away, bringing that immense distance into a room through sculpture and installation. The work does not rely on high-tech tools but on a deliberate use of simple, often fragile materials. This creates a specific friction. The structural complexity of an astrophysical theory is translated into the assembly of found objects.
The installations function as mental habitats or spiritual landscapes. In Das De-Sitter-Sanatorium, a table holds Prozac pills and beer vats under a ceiling of slats. It is an environment built for non-practical use. The materials are often weak or ephemeral, yet they attempt to give form to phenomena that lie beyond the reach of the naked eye. This process involves:
- The use of drawing, video, and sculpture to bridge science and aesthetics.
- A 'picture-in-picture' strategy that layers different scales of reality.
- The transformation of banal objects into symbols of cosmic significance.
Academic Presence and Global Reach
The trajectory moves from student to professor. Following years as a guest professor in Berlin, Nuremberg, Karlsruhe, and Braunschweig, the artist takes up a professorship for sculpture at the Braunschweig University of Art in 2012. By 2017, the position shifts to the Bauhaus-University Weimar. This academic foundation mirrors the structured yet experimental nature of the art itself.
Exhibitions span continents, from Tokyo and Shanghai to Los Angeles and Madrid. The works appear in institutions such as the Berlinische Galerie, the Hamburger Bahnhof, and the Mori Art Museum. Whether it is a solo show at Galerie Guido W. Baudach or a group presentation at the Busan Biennale, the core inquiry remains: how to visualize the unseen. The work continues to inhabit the intersection of the known and the mysterious, using the weight of physical matter to point toward the void.
