Modular installation
presented in I cannot put my finger on it, Storage Museum
27.09.–02.11.2025

Materials:
wood, metal, plastic, functional textiles, soil, soil from Jerusalem, sand, plants, hose system, hang tags

The work is conceived as a DIY kit. A transport crate containing a planting basin, drainage system, various soils (including soil from Jerusalem, acquired as a traded commodity) and a selectable pilgrim costume forms the initial setup. The components follow a defined sequence: the soils are layered, the textile element is placed in the custom-built crate, and maintained over several weeks.

The costume is made of functional organic cotton, which decomposes over a period of approximately eight weeks when in contact with microorganisms in the soil. Plants can be freely selected and integrated into the system, allowing a specific biotope to emerge.

The work can potentially be activated with each presentation or remain as a set. The crate circulates between institutions; labels accumulate on its lid, rendering its routes visible as an ongoing transit.

sandbox pilgrimage is a functional proposition. It shifts art into a controlled, time-based system in which preservation and dissolution are interwoven.

in easy words

sandbox pilgrimage is an artwork from 2025.
It was shown at the Storage Museum.

The artwork works like a DIY kit.
DIY means: you build it yourself.

Everything is inside one transport crate.
In the crate there is a basin for planting.
There is a system for water.
There are different kinds of soil.
One soil comes from Jerusalem.
I bought this soil like a normal product.
There is also a pilgrim costume.
A pilgrim is a person who travels to a holy place.

The kit is set up step by step.
First the soils are layered in the crate.
Then the costume is placed on the soil.
People water the crate and care for it.
This goes on for many weeks.

The costume is made of cotton.
Cotton is a natural fabric.
Tiny living things in the soil eat the fabric.
After about eight weeks the costume is gone.
Plants can be added to the crate.
So a small garden grows inside the artwork.

Every museum can decide:
Do we start the kit?
Or do we only show the crate?
The crate travels from museum to museum.
Labels collect on the lid.
So you can see the journey of the crate.

In this artwork two things happen at the same time.
Something is cared for and kept.
And something is allowed to disappear.

The sandbox in Care Format
since March 2026

Materials:
functional textiles, wooden crate, miniature plants, soil, sand

eidolon transfers the structure of sandbox pilgrimage into a closed, domestic format. While the original work is conceived as a walk-in installation, the process here takes place within a private, continuously observed space.

Since March 2026, the work has been documented on an ongoing basis. The camera replaces bodily movement with a continuous production of images, in which the miniature arrangement becomes the central level of perception. In its scale reduction, perception shifts: the setting appears both controllable and alien, almost surreal. The proximity to the model-like generates a tension between observation and imagination, in which the small develops an intensified presence. The resulting footage forms the basis for a future work.

Realized with the support of Büro für Produktbeschwerung (Office for Product Complaint) and Eco-Care Recycling Solutions GmbH.

in easy words

eidolon is an artwork.
It started in March 2026.
It is still going on.

eidolon is a small version of another artwork.
The other artwork is called: sandbox pilgrimage.
sandbox pilgrimage is big.
Visitors can walk into it.
eidolon is small.
It stands in a private room.

In a wooden crate there is a tiny landscape.
There is soil, sand and small plants.
There is also fabric.

A camera films the crate all the time.
Nobody walks through this artwork.
We only see it in the camera pictures.
In the pictures the tiny landscape looks special.
It looks real and unreal at the same time.
A little bit like a dream.

The camera pictures are collected.
They will become a new artwork later.

Two partners supported this work:
Büro für Produktbeschwerung and Eco-Care Recycling Solutions GmbH.

Image 1-7 Installation view sandbox pilgrimage
at the Storage Museum Düsseldorf, 2025

Image 8-9 Installation view eidolon
at home in Cologne, 2025

Image 10 Sketch cath. pilgrim I, 2025

Photos by Felix Adam

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn