In the video performance Ich, Ich (I, Me) the projection shows the artist, who has fixed a three-dimensional replica of himself with adhesive tape on his back. Various sequences of movements can be seen, in which the actor is at times in considerable disequilibrium. The film fades into a modified line of text from Pyotr Stepanovich in The Demons by Dostoevsky: »Killing, without any cause, only for the recognition of one’s own self. For this is the all-important point of one’s will, to kill oneself, without any cause.« The life-size doll from the film lies on the floor with its head facing the projection.
I, me | Video performance | Wall projection, foam, styrofoam, cotton fabric, shirt, jeans, fabric gloves, sneakers, 2:23, loop
Artist Statement:
The work was shown in the Bundestag subway station Berlin just a few days after the attack on the World Trade Center. The mannequin lying in the light of the projection visibly inspired respect in the visitors. Hardly anyone approached it so far that the head, which was only realized by a sewn-on photo, would have been recognizable to them. Only once did I observe how a man stepped into the light, bent down and touched the doll. His companion explained to me that the man was blind.
In the course of our lives, we make decisions again and again, choose paths by chance or consciously, which decisively influence our progress. We leave possible lives behind. You don’t have to go back to the atomistic model of antiquity to get the idea that maybe we don’t live in just one universe. Do we still carry this other self with us? Are we erasing various other forms of our self?