Encounters & Reflections

Encounters

By using photographs, I confront one or more of my sculptures with other copies of my work, as well as with sculptures by others. I place images next to or over each other to see what happens, and to observe how they influence one another.

Sometimes, there is a conscious connection between the works. This is the case, for example, with Agamemnon and his war booty Kassandra, on their way from Troy to Mycenae—heading toward Klytaimnestra, Agamemnon's vengeful wife. I combined my sculpture of Agamemnon with a sculpture by the German sculptor Max Klinger (1857–1920), which I photographed in the Leopold Museum in Vienna.

Hektor, the intended heir to the throne of Troy who died in battle against the Greek hero Achilles, is depicted twice. Interwoven into this is the photograph of the sculpture of Andromache, his wife. The tragedy lies hidden in their mutual awareness of their fate and future suffering. Hektor was conscious of his impending defeat by the greatest hero of the Greeks. Andromache foresaw her destiny as a future widow with a young child who would not survive.

Sometimes, in the "Encounters" portfolio, there is no direct narrative connection between the sculptures. An example of this is the photograph of a nymph's head from the "Hygieia Fountain" behind Hamburg City Hall, created by the German sculptor Joseph von Kramer (1841–1908). I combined von Kramer’s nymph head with a head of Persephone that I created myself. I call this duplication "Korai amongst each other"—young girls, just being among themselves.

For me, it is all about the meeting, about contrasting works, and about the added value born from such seemingly accidental encounters of unexpected, or even strange, couples.