© Michaela Melián / VG Bildkunst
The drawings for Straße were inspired by Bernward Vesper’s novel Die Reise (1972) in which he describes his childhood on the Triangel estate in the Lüneburg Heath, his travels, and politicization in the postwar period.
The drawings produced using a sewing machine were done from photographs taken driving in the Lüneburg Heath (Heimatmuseum Neuenkirchen, Bergen-Belsen Memorial), on German freeways, and at sites in Munich (Odeonsplatz, Hofgarten, University, Highfish Kommune, Frauenkommune, various of Fassbinder’s film locations).
Two projectors project slides of the sewn drawings superimposed on each other, creating an impression of a film composed of stills, a kind of road movie.
The continuous machine-sewn black thread follows the outlines of landscape, buildings, and roads.
The soundtrack to the slide installation is based on an excerpt from the album Disaster by the band Amon Düül which grew up around Kommune 1.
Straße, 2003
machine-sewn thread, paper, 3 sheets from the series bearing the same title, each 42 x 56 cm
Photos: Wilfried Petzi