Berlin à fleur de peau

Berlin à fleur de peau is a small archives made of eleven pieces of imprints made of dust on acrylic glass. The applied techniques are developed and adapted according to this work: forensic techniques and materials combined with glaziery methods.

I worked in places of transit like underground stations, bus stops and other means of public transport, where I used the same powder as the police during criminal investigations. In these spaces where people are often waiting on trains and buses the opportunity arises them to leave a mark for the posterity in the form of graffiti. Next to wanton and clearly visible texts there are also inconspicuous scratches and unawakened traces of fat and sebum that occur when the human skin gets in contact with a pane of glass.

I am fascinated by the way how traces of human gestures are overlaid many times on these panes of glass. The glass records the passive or active actions and becomes a sort of material memory for micro-histories of the urban everyday life. The German word “Geschichte”, which at the same time denotes fictional and non-fictional events of the past (stories as well as histories) is relevant in this context, since it encompasses the word “layer” (“Schicht” in German). The word itself is an invitation to a sculptural work. The stratification of diverse actions and times creates abstract images of urban life that few are aware of. The imprints made of these look almost ghostly because the people really were in these locations and left evidence behind in the form of their skin and hair.