GESCHICHTE
2010
52 stereo photographs of the death masks from the Merkurov Museum, each case 52 × 34 × 26 cm
GESCHICHTE consists of the 52 stereo photographs of the death masks from the Merkurov Museum. They are presented in showcases with two mirrors. The illusion of three-dimensionality created by the stereoscopic arrangement of the photographed masks highlights the analogy between imprint/cast and photography as two reproductive mediums that are based on actual ‘contact’ with their subject matter.
The presentation of the masks without further classification through names poses questions about the expressiveness of the human face beyond identification and attribution. The showcases can only be looked at by one viewer at a time, who for this purpose has to bend over the glass cover plate. This way each viewer finds him-/her self alone, face to face with the respective death mask. If s/he cannot identify the face and thus connect it to a certain role within the history of the Soviet Union, then almost inevitably speculations about the biography and function of the bearer of the face begin. The immediate confrontation with every mask results in an interplay between the bearer of the face (German: Gesicht) and the bearer of history (Geschichte) referenced in the title of the work.