Auflösung I, 2021

Auflösung converts the flat of an apartment building into the location of an accessible semi-fictional story. This is significantly influenced by the fact that I got to know the last resident, who was still in the process of moving out during my build-up. I noticed a strong connection to her flat, which made the process of moving out more difficult. This connection reminded me of my grandmother with dementia, whose flat acted as a materialised reminder. I decided to conceive a new work and consensually preserve inscribed traces: The worn carpet with the traces of decades of travelled paths. Her curtains that have been hanging there for 39 years. The wardrobe in the bedroom, with a drawing of her daughter on it.

The space and its context, which has a recognisable temporal and cultural location, is complemented by a sound and video installation. I developed the sound installation with vocalist Hannah Schörken, who has led dementia choirs herself and therefore has a personal connection to the vocal changes of people with dementia. All the windows in the flat are fitted with structure-borne sound transducers that turn the architecture into a loudspeaker. A recurring sequence of spoken and sung numbers travels through all the rooms. This creates a relationship between components of the diagnostics (DemTect) and the therapy of dementia. A video installation in the old bedroom allows visitors to become part of the work, with subtitles continuously superimposed over their faces. The text reflects on one’s own identity in relation to the mother and draws attention to situations and props in the room; the work locates themes of the dissolution of identity through dementia and the perception that we experience as participants in this process in a place that is collectively occupied by this taboo subject for us.

The staging Auflösung was developed for the exhibition What are we living for? by Empty Spaces e.V. curated by Mara Sporn in Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth from 05.11. – 08.11.2020.

« who is my mother?

mama [...]
[...] as a child I often slept in your bed.
With the head under the blanket [...]
[...] everything shines red.
In the mirror I watched you sleeping.
Late I realized the similarity of our faces
half of me is you.

[...] Who are you? »

location:
51°17‘57.6“N 6°44‘30.0“E

material:
Raspberry Pi, audio-interface, Full-HD Capture Card, amplifiers, 8 audio-transducer, coppercables, sound, LED- stripes, Full-HD camera, tripod, short throw projector, curtains and cupboard with drawing of the last resident

contributor:
vocalist and composer Hannah Schörken

photos:
Kai Werner Schmidt

Auflösung converts the flat of an apartment building into the location of an accessible semi-fictional story. This is significantly influenced by the fact that I got to know the last resident, who was still in the process of moving out during my build-up. I noticed a strong connection to her flat, which made the process of moving out more difficult. This connection reminded me of my grandmother with dementia, whose flat acted as a materialised reminder. I decided to conceive a new work and consensually preserve inscribed traces: The worn carpet with the traces of decades of travelled paths. Her curtains that have been hanging there for 39 years. The wardrobe in the bedroom, with a drawing of her daughter on it.

The space and its context, which has a recognisable temporal and cultural location, is complemented by a sound and video installation. I developed the sound installation with vocalist Hannah Schörken, who has led dementia choirs herself and therefore has a personal connection to the vocal changes of people with dementia. All the windows in the flat are fitted with structure-borne sound transducers that turn the architecture into a loudspeaker. A recurring sequence of spoken and sung numbers travels through all the rooms. This creates a relationship between components of the diagnostics (DemTect) and the therapy of dementia. A video installation in the old bedroom allows visitors to become part of the work, with subtitles continuously superimposed over their faces. The text reflects on one’s own identity in relation to the mother and draws attention to situations and props in the room; the work locates themes of the dissolution of identity through dementia and the perception that we experience as participants in this process in a place that is collectively occupied by this taboo subject for us.

The staging Auflösung was developed for the exhibition What are we living for? by Empty Spaces e.V. curated by Mara Sporn in Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth from 05.11. – 08.11.2020.

location:
51°17‘57.6“N 6°44‘30.0“E

material:
Raspberry Pi, audio-interface, Full-HD Capture Card, amplifiers, 8 audio-transducer, coppercables, sound, LED- stripes, Full-HD camera, tripod, short throw projector, curtains and cupboard with drawing of the last resident

contributor:
vocalist and composer Hannah Schörken

photos:
Kai Werner Schmidt