Ein Herz für Graz und den Dreck der Restlichen Welt (2009)
installation, primarily paper (in various forms), cardboard, colored yarn, fabric, lighting, video projection. 270 x 370 x 150 cm
Ein Herz für Graz und den Dreck der Restlichen Welt was created during a residency in Graz, Austria at Forum Stadtpark for he exhibition "Tat Eve" (see more in the second part of the installation titled simply "Ein Herz für Graz"). The title can be translated as "Love for ("a heart for") Graz and the dreck/crap/dirt of the rest of the world", which sounds quite inflammatory (more so in German) if you don't see the context. However, I am serious in my admiration of the city of Graz AND my love of the leftover crap of the world. Graz is a city I consider to be a second home. I love the layout of the city, it's relatively small size and especially the wonderful people I know there. For this installation I created a kind of shrine-like construction out of mostly paper-based materials I have collected worldwide (some are at least 10 years old but seem fresh) as well as other paper-based (primarily cardboard) which were collected during my stay in Graz. The cardboard "display cases" are meant to conjure this idea of a collector who displays items of value, and the paper inside the "display cases" are made to seem stylized but are made out of mostly flyers in "book-style" form which you can find anywhere in consumerist nations, such as supermarket sales flyers or tourism brochures. The top "display case" is actually the window to the natural world, with a crude tree cut out of it and other string-like materials pouring out of it. From behind the tree a red light is projected, like the sun shining through the tree. However, if you walk around the main installation to the back you can see that the light actually shines through a large hole which has been cut out of a pair of pants I had been wearing which fell apart while I was in Graz. I've always loved the English phrase which revolves around the idea of the sun shining out of someone's ass, indicating a person's perception of how special they believe they are, so the pants lead to plastic bags with "does the sun shine out of your ass?" written on them. The projection is a collage of various chicken & monkey films and various other unused/recycled footage.
installation, primarily paper (in various forms), cardboard, colored yarn, fabric, lighting, video projection. 270 x 370 x 150 cm
Ein Herz für Graz und den Dreck der Restlichen Welt was created during a residency in Graz, Austria at Forum Stadtpark for he exhibition "Tat Eve" (see more in the second part of the installation titled simply "Ein Herz für Graz"). The title can be translated as "Love for ("a heart for") Graz and the dreck/crap/dirt of the rest of the world", which sounds quite inflammatory (more so in German) if you don't see the context. However, I am serious in my admiration of the city of Graz AND my love of the leftover crap of the world. Graz is a city I consider to be a second home. I love the layout of the city, it's relatively small size and especially the wonderful people I know there. For this installation I created a kind of shrine-like construction out of mostly paper-based materials I have collected worldwide (some are at least 10 years old but seem fresh) as well as other paper-based (primarily cardboard) which were collected during my stay in Graz. The cardboard "display cases" are meant to conjure this idea of a collector who displays items of value, and the paper inside the "display cases" are made to seem stylized but are made out of mostly flyers in "book-style" form which you can find anywhere in consumerist nations, such as supermarket sales flyers or tourism brochures. The top "display case" is actually the window to the natural world, with a crude tree cut out of it and other string-like materials pouring out of it. From behind the tree a red light is projected, like the sun shining through the tree. However, if you walk around the main installation to the back you can see that the light actually shines through a large hole which has been cut out of a pair of pants I had been wearing which fell apart while I was in Graz. I've always loved the English phrase which revolves around the idea of the sun shining out of someone's ass, indicating a person's perception of how special they believe they are, so the pants lead to plastic bags with "does the sun shine out of your ass?" written on them. The projection is a collage of various chicken & monkey films and various other unused/recycled footage.
