»Roof«, 2000

Material: roofing tiles, wood, plaster boards

The room in which the roof was exposed is situated on the third floor of the former Herz-Zentrum München (Central Hospital for Heart Diseases) at Lothstrasse. The hospital was built in the mid 1960ies. It's appearance in the neighbourhood is rather strikingas it is surrounded by the older buildings of Munich/Neuhausen. The hospital was rented out to the Academy of Fine Arts when the main building was in the process of renovation. As a reaction to the immediate environment I established the installation in my studio that reflected the architecture from the opposite building. One entered the room to find oneself under a truss. From there, through an opening in the roof one entered another room lit by a bulb (20 W). The normally existing windows of the room were removed and boarded up with a cardboard wall. A tiny slit in the wall made it possible to see the house across. The room's temperature adjusted to the temperature outside and a light wind blew into the room due to the removal of the windows.

»Wall«, 2001

Material: lacquer varnish

The image mirrored on the wall derives from the building opposite the studio. The wall onto which the varnish had been applied consisted of an extremely reflective surface which had been sanded before. The varnish depicted the dormer from the opposite building. By sanding the wall the original green wall paint reemerged. The windows of the room where removed and positioned opposite to the wall. Depending on the viewers perspective parts of the work where reflected in the windows.

»Hospital Room«, 2002

Material: wood, plaster boards, lacquer varnish, wall paint

I had the room at my disposal for two months from a student colleague. Without changing the layout (furniture, lights, floor) I rebuilt the room from the inside. The only reference to the "outer" room were square openings that showed parts of the room behind. The shelves could not be used anymore, the light switch was not accessible and the window could not be closed. The white colour existed as an overwhelming tenor. White, often postulated as purity, neutrality, spirituality, innocence, the sublime etc, also created an association with modern gallery rooms, hospitals, schools, museums and places of similar kind. White was believed to help the patient's convalescence, a reason why military hospitals were often covered in white. The main building of the Academy of Fine Art in Munich served as such in WWI.