There is this one single piece of clothing that you could never obtain but you’re sure it would complete your life.
Signalling the right messages to the right people, giving your body the shape you always wanted it to have and making your parents roll their eyes if they’d ever see you in it.
Financially never stable enough, you’ve been buying the wrong size, the wrong colour or dupes. Slowly over time creeping closer and closer, but always an adjacent estimation, never the one you really want. You added tag words to your vinted account that set off a notification on your phone. Your alarm goes off: It’s an extra small, and it’s overpriced. Ugh, who put me in a body like this, you ask yourself and look at your dog sitting on your lap licking your wrist. Smiling at you, it’s the brightest smile you’ve ever seen.
Quit saving for cashmere, it’s not happening.
*
The pocket knife with your name engraved in it, that your granddad gave you many years ago, that stupid-you left on your keychain, that the stupid bouncer confiscated when you entered the club, the existence of which that same stupid fucking bouncer apparently has no recollection of.
Feeling so tired and defeated as you haven’t in a while you tell him, how he promised you, he would take good care of it and you could pick it up when leaving and the pre-drinks made you believe it. Hearing yourself talking and the bouncer turning away, you choose a single word from all the ones you know. “Truth” you say and you poke him right onto those capital letters spelling security on his big chest.
Waking up outside, your nose is bleeding all over your white T-Shirt. Looking up, you see the most beautiful bag on someone else.
*
You are sincerely the single biggest asshole I’ve ever met. I’ve wanted to tell you that for a while now. I’ve always had the words but never the stories. So I made them up, told them around, until you believed them to be true. You told me you never wanted to see or speak to me ever again in your life. I now live in a world where the same word means different things and different T-Shirts can mean the same thing. You don’t get it, nobody gets it. All these words are overused and lost their initial punch. ALL MY LIFE, I’ve been in love with you for ages, how did I never get over anything, ever. I’m a garbage man in this notes app, trying to clean up the mess I made. I’ve spilled everything, I told you every single secret I ever owned and no one believes me anything. I’m not talking anymore, I’m trying to make sense. I need new words.I wear them on and no longer up my sleeve for others to take and I know you know the truth. I really do care now.
I know I can’t find what I’m looking for and I’ve wasted so much time.
*
“She told me the shirt was fake, which worked to her credit, because intellectuals knew that to fetishise an original over a copy was the most unintellectual thing to do.” someone quotes off their phone, while you can only look at a sunset, just like yesterday, but this one is different.
*
You’re hurrying to work on a rainy Tuesday. Taking a left turn too tightly you bump into a stranger, knocking their hat onto the ground. You never looked at their face, but the hat said a single word that kind of threw you off. Walking on, you suddenly see it everywhere: The bus driver, three identically dressed teenagers standing around, the construction worker that gives you a lighter for your cigarette, … Your cold fingers google the word and add “cap hat blck”, your phone shows you an infinite row of black hats. They are all versions of each other. Each one a slight iteration of the one to the left. Each one around 100 euros. You add “the one…” in front of your search query and the same hats as previously appear. When searching that word with “cap hat black fake” all shown hats are suddenly the same but all their owners are individuals like me, just trying to be taken seriously in expressing themselves.
*
With the metal hook of the clothing hanger firmly in your hand, you are holding up a grey sweater, bearing a very ambiguous sentence, to your chest. You signal to your friend, standing at another rack to comment on it. With a frown and a slight smile they say:
“You sure? That’s so not you.”
Die Foto-Installation wurde im Rahmen eines Seminars „A Photo Book in Two Parts“ im Bereich Kommunikationsdesign im Wintersemester 2023/2024 erarbeitet und von dem Grafik- und Fotodesignstudio „Europium“ betreut. Die Gastdozierenden Ghazaal Vojdani und Julia Andréone hat die Studierenden dazu angeleitet, Mikro-Ereignisse, die spezifisch in der Stadt Karlsruhe auftreten, zu entdecken. Diese Narrative werden in Verbindung mit gefundenen Fotografien erzählt.
Karlsruhe verfügt über bis zu 300 offizielle Brunnen. In den urbanen Räumen, in denen diese Brunnen installiert sind, wachsen unbemerkt Flechten in unterschiedlichen Farben und Formen. Während sich diese Flechten langsam ausbreiten, bilden sich gleichzeitig informelle Gemeinschaften von Menschen, die sich rund um diese Brunnen versammeln. Alle diese Begegnungen entstehen auf Grundlage der zirkulären Wasserquelle, die die Brunnen darstellen.
Die Geschichte wird anhand von Archivfotografien erzählt. Die Fotografien der Installation wurden bearbeitet und anschließend im RISO-Druckverfahren sowie durch Laserdruck reproduziert. Auf der Rückseite der Fotografien befinden sich Textfragmente, die sich mit den Themen Brunnen, Flechten, Gemeinschaften und Wasser auseinandersetzen. Diese Texte helfen den Betrachtern, eine Erzählung zu den abgebildeten Fotografien zu entwickeln.
Die Fotografien befinden sich in Plastiktaschen, die einen fünf Meter langen Vorhang bilden. Dieser hängt an einem Stahlträger und fällt flach zu Boden. Der Vorhang symbolisiert das Narrativ des Wasserstrahls, entlang dessen sich die Mikro-Phänomene ereignen, wie die Bildung von Gemeinschaften rund um Brunnen und das Wachsen von Flechten auf Gestein. Am Fuße des Vorhangs befinden sich gefüllte Wassergläser und eine Karaffe, die zum Trinken einladen. Diese Elemente fördern neue Begegnungen und Gespräche zwischen den Betrachtern.
Die Installation wurde erstmals am 14. Februar 2024 während des Präsentationstags des Fachbereichs Kommunikationsdesign ausgestellt.
The photo installation was developed as part of a seminar "A Photo Book in Two Parts" in communication design in the winter semester 2023/2024 and supervised by the graphic and photo design studio Europium. Guest lecturers Ghazaal Vojdani and Julia Andréone guided the students to discover micro-events that occur specifically in the city of Karlsruhe. These narratives are told in conjunction with found images.
Karlsruhe has up to 300 official fountains. In the urban spaces where these fountains are installed, lichens of different colors and shapes grow unnoticed. As these lichens slowly spread, informal communities of people gather around these fountains. All these encounters are based on the circular water source that the fountains represent.
The story is told through archival photographs. The photographs of the installation were edited and then reproduced using the RISO printing process and laser printing. On the back of the photographs are text fragments that deal with the themes of fountains, lichen, communities and water. These texts help the viewer to develop a narrative about the photographs depicted.
The photographs are in plastic bags that form a five-meter-long curtain. This hangs from a steel girder and falls flat to the floor. The curtain symbolizes the narrative of the water stream along which the micro-phenomena take place, such as the formation of communities around fountains and the growth of lichen on rock. At the foot of the curtain are filled glasses of water and a carafe that invite people to drink. These elements encourage new encounters and conversations between viewers.
The installation was first exhibited on February 14, 2024 during the Communication Design department's presentation day.
Die Foto-Installation wurde im Rahmen eines Seminars „A Photo Book in Two Parts“ im Bereich Kommunikationsdesign im Wintersemester 2023/2024 erarbeitet und von dem Grafik- und Fotodesignstudio „Europium“ betreut. Die Gastdozierenden Ghazaal Vojdani und Julia Andréone hat die Studierenden dazu angeleitet, Mikro-Ereignisse, die spezifisch in der Stadt Karlsruhe auftreten, zu entdecken. Diese Narrative werden in Verbindung mit gefundenen Fotografien erzählt.
Karlsruhe verfügt über bis zu 300 offizielle Brunnen. In den urbanen Räumen, in denen diese Brunnen installiert sind, wachsen unbemerkt Flechten in unterschiedlichen Farben und Formen. Während sich diese Flechten langsam ausbreiten, bilden sich gleichzeitig informelle Gemeinschaften von Menschen, die sich rund um diese Brunnen versammeln. Alle diese Begegnungen entstehen auf Grundlage der zirkulären Wasserquelle, die die Brunnen darstellen.
Die Geschichte wird anhand von Archivfotografien erzählt. Die Fotografien der Installation wurden bearbeitet und anschließend im RISO-Druckverfahren sowie durch Laserdruck reproduziert. Auf der Rückseite der Fotografien befinden sich Textfragmente, die sich mit den Themen Brunnen, Flechten, Gemeinschaften und Wasser auseinandersetzen. Diese Texte helfen den Betrachtern, eine Erzählung zu den abgebildeten Fotografien zu entwickeln.
Die Fotografien befinden sich in Plastiktaschen, die einen fünf Meter langen Vorhang bilden. Dieser hängt an einem Stahlträger und fällt flach zu Boden. Der Vorhang symbolisiert das Narrativ des Wasserstrahls, entlang dessen sich die Mikro-Phänomene ereignen, wie die Bildung von Gemeinschaften rund um Brunnen und das Wachsen von Flechten auf Gestein. Am Fuße des Vorhangs befinden sich gefüllte Wassergläser und eine Karaffe, die zum Trinken einladen. Diese Elemente fördern neue Begegnungen und Gespräche zwischen den Betrachtern.
Die Installation wurde erstmals am 14. Februar 2024 während des Präsentationstags des Fachbereichs Kommunikationsdesign ausgestellt.
Medien-Beschreibung (en)
The photo installation was developed as part of a seminar "A Photo Book in Two Parts" in communication design in the winter semester 2023/2024 and supervised by the graphic and photo design studio Europium. Guest lecturers Ghazaal Vojdani and Julia Andréone guided the students to discover micro-events that occur specifically in the city of Karlsruhe. These narratives are told in conjunction with found images.
Karlsruhe has up to 300 official fountains. In the urban spaces where these fountains are installed, lichens of different colors and shapes grow unnoticed. As these lichens slowly spread, informal communities of people gather around these fountains. All these encounters are based on the circular water source that the fountains represent.
The story is told through archival photographs. The photographs of the installation were edited and then reproduced using the RISO printing process and laser printing. On the back of the photographs are text fragments that deal with the themes of fountains, lichen, communities and water. These texts help the viewer to develop a narrative about the photographs depicted.
The photographs are in plastic bags that form a five-meter-long curtain. This hangs from a steel girder and falls flat to the floor. The curtain symbolizes the narrative of the water stream along which the micro-phenomena take place, such as the formation of communities around fountains and the growth of lichen on rock. At the foot of the curtain are filled glasses of water and a carafe that invite people to drink. These elements encourage new encounters and conversations between viewers.
The installation was first exhibited on February 14, 2024 during the Communication Design department's presentation day.