The life of Gerda S.

The basis for the artistic research From the Life of Gerda S. 1911-1998 are postcards and photographs from the estate of an anonymous woman, unsorted and stored in an inconspicuous cardboard box. Since 2003, the material has served as the only source of information for the search for clues about Gerda S., who was presumably born in 1911 in Berlin-Neukölln and died in 1998 in Berlin-Steglitz. The materials reveal fragments of a simple, sometimes arduous life, which was also marked by small joys and moments of happiness.
By means of pictures, texts, images and projections, individual associations are awakened which, together with the experiences from the collective memory, form a picture of the life of an unknown woman. German wanderlust, East-West relations, aesthetic norms and significant German concepts are thematised as contemporary witnesses.
From the life of Gerda S. 1911-1998 is conceived as an open work and so far comprises six sections. The various groups of works and also the individual works stand on their own or are installed in relation to the space.