Artists Registry

artist Monika von Eschenbach:

An installation design,  dimensions of 450 cm x 400 cm, which realizes the idea of a walk-in, room-filling object. The filigree object, made of photographic cardboard, is attached to the ceiling and is made to vibrate or rotate by the air in the room and by walking into it. The lattice-like interweaving of the construction allows a view from the outside to the inside and vice versa. The cone shaped object can be viewed from a distance of several meters, circled, or entered into its open interior.

The underlying medium of a photography made by Monika in 1985, which shows the still intact World Trade Center despite its fragmentation into many small sections, allows for a transmedial culture of remembrance staged by Monika on the theme of preservation on the one hand and shaping the future on the other - but ultimately destruction. The central theme is the terrorist act of September 11, 2001, which undoubtedly changed the world profoundly, far beyond the actual destruction of the Western economic symbol. Since then, one wave of escalation after another has not allowed the world to calm down. Not that the world was any better before, but the political, economic and social consequences are elementary and there is no end in sight. However, the artist does not only take up the theme of historical memory, which might be a bit too simple in this context. Above all, she sees this installation as a general metaphor for destruction, a culture of remembrance, and a new beginning. 

It is about pausing to reflect on power relations and the simple realization that terror only creates more misery. It is about the difficult situation in which the right to self-defense is opposed to the prohibition of violence. It is about collective security, the limits of distribution and the need for diplomacy. And all this is reflected in the balance of interests. The balance should protect against a repetition of history. For Monika von Eschenbach, this constellation applies not only to political processes, but also to personal experiences and destinies. In this sense, she wants her work to be understood as a personal manifesto. Out of despair, hopelessness and helplessness, she wants to bring new life (back) through the power to shape the future like a phoenix from the ashes.

The performance act:  What the artist makes possible with her cone shaped spatial installation, not unlike the construction of Gothic cathedrals - also consciously reminiscent of the flowing skirts of Muslim ascetic der vishes spinning in trance - is to merge memory, present and future. A sign of hope.