works on the topic <death & remembrance> by raul gschrey

most of he works that are presented here were part of the exhibition "death & transience" in the exhibition venue of goethe university, frankfurt/germany. some works were also shown in other contexts. in the exhibitions „arrivals & departures“, a conference on english literature and culture (2007), „begegnungen & abschiede“, a conference on palliative medicine in Wiesbaden (2008).

the range of topics stretches from personal interrogations of the creation and reception of history and memory to thoughts about how to deal with physical “remains”. other threads lead to a questioning of social norms and romanticising pictures, from “fluxus” to the “death of the artist”.

three tv-screens hang from the ceiling facing each other. the architecture encourages the visitor to move between the screens, to be surrounded by the installation. in this personal work, i chose the eye, the most intimate and lively part in the human face to visualise members of my family. according to the different generations, i used different materials. my grandfather’s eye was filmed with black and white film, my father’s eye with colour super8, and mine with video. the sound collage that is compiled from interview sequences deals with the question which moments, which events in our lives changed us considerably. how do different generations deal with their memories and their experiences and how are these experiences passed on? - soundremix: brian uzna.

the video material was also used in the interactive installation "sensorama" which allows the visitors to move in an interactive environment while the digital wallpapers change according to their movements. the installation was developed by projektionsareal a group of media-artists. it was shown in offenburg, heidelberg, freiburg - In 2009 it will be shown in zürich.

an old lamp throws light on a photo album. it shows pictures of former times. strangers smile into the camera with familiarity. a suitcase, a slide projector, a globe. is it possible to figure out whom they kept company? in <life-lines> different paths are arranged with objects that describe fictitious persons. the ‘objects trouvées’ are part of household liquidations, the last evidence, the visible remains of a person’s life. the choice and arrangement of the objects cast light on possible living-spaces and biographies. the installations were shown at <tod & vergänglichkeit>, <begegnungen & abschiede> and <night of the museums 09, museum for communication frankfurt>.

DAS SCHREIBEN IST HEUTE AN DAS OPFER GEBUNDEN
SELBST AN DAS OPFER DES LEBENS (M. Foucault)

in the medium-format photographs the artists have staged their own suicides. the light boxes draw on the aesthetics of advertisement. the photos themselves contrast with the sometimes romanticising picture of suicide in literature and film.