// new media class

In the broader context of life itself, the impact of the fall can be equated with death. The question is where, in this sense, the fall begins.

Reflecting on the works I created during my studies it led me to the main question around which I conceptualised Angel Grinder:
"Why does life feel like falling?"

There's a quote that says, 'When I see a swimmer, I paint a drowned man', and for me, it's like if I see anything at all, I make a piece of work about it falling to the ground. And I see myself on the floor all the time, especially when I'm feeling depressed. In those moments, it feels like reality is splitting in two, like in every moment: one part is the present moment, and the other is the beginning of my Fall. Two moments later, I'm lying on the ground, and I carry that image, with me all the time, as well as the image of myself Falling.

While the image of the fall serves as a metaphor for reflecting on depression and suicidal tendencies, the image of the angel is its artistic counterpart.

The Angel in the Grinder:

1. ‘Becoming an angel’ can be understood directly as dying, as redemption, as termination. The wings are representative of death.
2. ‘Becoming an angel’ can also be understood as becoming a new being; an existence after depression. Rising out of depression and attaining lightness in life. To be born again. The wings imply flight and therefore also the risk of Falling. Depression has not disappeared, it is the ground over which one tries to fly.
3. ‘Becoming an angel’ is the discarding of being human, since being human is in itself the origin of suffering; discarding human existence frees one from suffering

I have a little notebook in which I write down all my stupid ideas. Putting two angle grinders on my back to create wings out of the sparks was one of those stupid ideas (I wrote it down between 30 May and 3 July 2024). However, when I have an idea that won't leave my mind and I feel the urge to create it, I start questioning my motivation. I start digging for aspects of the work that I resonate with. Sometimes even other people find it. My good friend Bill Hartestein said about my work:
“It swings from craftsmanship to poetry, and then celebrates craftsmanship poetically.”
Through that, I realised the important role that the workshop plays in my work. I would never have come up with it if I had not held a angle grinder in my hand thousands of times to sand away my poor welds. I don't think I would ever have felt so comfortable in the workshop without my proletarian heritage. If my father hadn't drummed into me that, as an immigrant child, I had to work twice as hard for the same credit, I might not have been able to bring myself to work here almost every night. For better or worse, the workshop became my home.

"It is possible to rise from the working class but never with it."—Mark Fisher

Video Documentation:
https://youtu.be/iDfoMRZSVR4

Thesis:
https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.25406.96329

PhotoCredits:
Clemens Fischer, En Kitani, Tobias Flindt