GHOSTS

GHOSTS is a visual research for traces and the finding of a language for something unspeakable. It examines the systematic abuse and killing of Spanish hunting dogs through following their tracks by visiting places with indirect or direct links to this cruelty. It is a comprehensive complex of works for the artistic examination of the human-animal relationship such as observation of social and environmental factors phenomena of our postmodern world in it’s full brutality. The 9-channel video and crossmedia installation in and around a huge dog kennel asks for perspectives of victims and viewers, confronts with questions about being locked up and locked out. It was first shown as graduation project at UdK Berlin, 2024 and awarded with special honors. The work appears as a bridge between atmosphere, feeling, experience and subtile didactic character without dictating.

Installation views, 2024, UdK Berlin, 9-channel Video Installation, Paintings, Photographies, Objects, Texts

Visual Language

Due to the lack of translation of experienced and atmospheric phenomena, it was supplemented by experimental paintings, objects and texts, based on the archive works. In the end, a binary, visual code was created, that connected all of the different media and made it unique in it’s form. A key visual is the interplay of light and shadow such as the view from inside and outside of rooms, buildings and surroundings as a juxtaposition and implanted in the visual binary coding. Space, time and architecture were formative for the work.

Video Concept

GHOSTS was researched and filmed on the Canary Islands and Andalusia in close cooperations with rescue centers on one hand and independent researching and observationon the other. The camera provides unflinching insights into the kennels of various dogs with behavioral problems or serious injuries. Two channels show explicit material of killed and abused dogs. Most of the recordings are looped to illustrate the state of suspension, which is independent of time and space. The view of the animals is simultaneously the perspective of the dogs' view through the bars, a world that is intangible for them, yet one they still yearn for. The animals' story, deliberately left unspoken.

Selected Works

Based on the archive after researching, the lack of atmospheric description besides the video material led to creating additional works like paintings, objects, fragments and texts. Archive material was overworked, reconnected and placed in context. This opened the possibility to expand the space and the atmosphere in a museographic character.