While the video work primarily operates at the levels of time, language and absence, the second piece — the stack of pictures standing on the floor and leaning against the wall — responds with physical presence and material placement. The installation consists of 40 monochrome grey paintings. Each of the four artists involved in the 'front garden exhibition' is represented by a different shade of grey. Labels, titles or references to the artists have been deliberately omitted. The dimensions of the frames are based on photographs of the 'Front Garden Exhibition' taken by Rolf Jährling and Manfred Kuttner, and thus correspond to the dimensions of the works exhibited in 1964. However, based solely on documents from today's perspective, some works cannot be clearly identified, leaving gaps.
The stack of pictures therefore refers not only to a physical absence, but also to the fragility of reconstruction. What remains when the pictures are gone? Reduced to form, colour and dimensions, the work pays homage to the original 'front garden exhibition' and simultaneously examines memory as a creative act.
Karoline Lixenfeld
