The publication European Bodies was made in collaboration with Maurits Koster. It is based on a long-standing research into questions around European identity, as well as the identity politics of the European Union. The publication bundles a series of ideas, proposals and essays revolving around these themes.
The book is subdivided in five sections, each of which is elaborating on a different subject. By example, one section is based on Koster’s experience of a colonial museum in Sudan. The text is juxtaposed with stills from the film Statues Also Die, by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais. The section Retaking Europe is presumably written by a consulting firm. It proposes to turn the whole Greek territory into an international music festival in order for the country to reciprocate on its financial debt. The essay European Bodies proposes to repurpose institutional critique in visual art to a critique of European political institutions.
Â
Mirror Stage revolves around one of the most controversial interventions in the urban landscape of Berlin in recent years: the demolition of the GDR building Palast der Republik to make way for a reconstruction of the Prussian Berliner Schloss, which recently opened as the Humboldt Forum. The installation orchestrates a direct confrontation between the two buildings using two characteristic elements: a Prussian eagle from the facade of the Humboldt Forum faces its own mirror image reflected in a facade fragment of the Palast der Republik. The eagle is cast in plaster using the same mould that was used in the construction of the Humboldt Forum. The fragment of the Palast der Republik is recreated after drawings obtained from the German Federal Archives, employing the same materials used in the original building.