Junker Schlaf

The installation consists of six sculptures and one audio track. Each sculpture is made of three wooden slats constructed as tripods, holding a circular frame with semi-transparent fabric stretched over it. The frames are in analogy with pop filters which is an anti-pop noise protection filter for microphones, typically used in a recording studio. Each unit is in pastel colors, black or white. A sphere of sound surrounds the constellation of 6 pieces: Through the loudspeakers located at every corner of the dormitory hall, improvisations of harp music (co-produced by Beatrice Martini) is to hear. The work is a response to the historical context of the dormitory, which belongs to the former Nazi Ordernsburg Vogelsang. The training camp was used by the National Socialists between 1936 and 1939 as an educational centre for future leaders. Besides of functioning as simple sleeping halls for young men, the dorm was also designed to compress the living space of each person. Its aim was to remove any individuality and the creation of a collective consciousness. The individual process of sleeping, which belonged to the daily activities inside the building, is indispensable for developing a personality of a young man. Sleeping generates a free and non-controllable thinking and seems to be the only moment of interferance with the ideology that dominated the space. This idea of sleep is represented in the sculptures and the harp music. They both deconstruct the heavy and monumental architecture of the building by creating a free and floating expression. The site-specific installation reflects the relation between individualism and collectivity, in consideration of the past and the present.