Jan-Jun, 2026: Research Fellowship AUFTAKT, Kunststiftung NRW
I create installations that stage familiar social environments — such as bars, domestic interiors, and exhibition spaces — where objects, figures, and lighting are arranged to suggest situations that feel real but never fully unfold.
In works like Die Bar, a functioning bar stands at the center of the room, complete with a counter, glassware, lighting, and seating. Mannequins in tailored outfits stand in for human presence; they are positioned around tables or throughout the space as if caught mid-conversation or waiting. In my practice, social systems are not negotiated but rather utilized as aesthetic material. Occasionally, a bartender activates the setting, yet the expected exchange never truly takes place. The promise of interaction remains suspended.
I work with textiles, clothing, furniture, printed matter, and found objects. Parallel to these large-scale scenographies, I develop an ongoing series titled textile Stücke (textile pieces). In these works, I translate diary-like everyday moments into fabric, thread, and paint. My archive of motifs and figures converges in disparate yet harmonious ways; these textile pieces often function as intimate echoes of the larger spatial arrangements.
Domestic elements like cupboards, chairs, and clocks appear alongside display systems and lighting rigs. Objects are precisely arranged, often spaced far apart or strictly aligned, creating scenes that appear staged rather than inhabited. Lighting plays a central role; studio lights and color filters create zones of clarity and shadow, shaping how the space is perceived. In this artificial atmosphere, that which is often excluded from everyday life becomes palpable: a latent voyeurism and the ambivalent needs that underpin our social spaces.
Within the installations, narrative fragments emerge in the form of texts, diaries, and objects. Rather than forming a closed narrative, they create overlapping perspectives and temporalities in which personal and fictional elements remains unresolved. The work draws on the visual language of fashion, theater, and commercial product presentation. Clothing, styling, and staging become tools to construct identities that appear both specific and unstable.
Each installation develops in resonance with its respective space. Elements are reconfigured, expanded, or reduced, forming new constellations with every presentation. The environments I create invite viewers into situations that seem familiar but feel slightly out of sync. In these spaces, attention shifts toward the construction of behavioral patterns and spatial presence — reaching a point where visitors become conscious of their own „being-on-display“ within the staging.