Likeness (2026)

At the Projektraum des Museums Katharinenhof in Kranenburg, I presented the exhibition “Likeness” from 15 March to 3 May 2026. The title refers to resemblance and recognisability, drawing attention to the fragile relationship between body, image, and sense of self. This tension lies at the core of the works, developed during my residency with Borderland Residencies between September 2025 and February 2026—an international artists’ programme in the Meuse–Rhine region.

The central video installation, also titled “Likeness”, consists of two Plexiglas panels onto which videos are projected. The works show me performing movements in a studio, wearing a full-body suit and repeating each action twice, creating a subtle interplay between sameness and variation. I revisit and develop movements from earlier works such as White Balance and Subcooled.

The panels hang freely in the space, requiring viewers to stand close due to the room’s limited size, which can create an intense sense of proximity. The work invites reflection on how seeing and sensing relate to recognising oneself in another.

The second work, “White Balance (wall object)”, extends this enquiry into material form. Fabric pieces depicting bodies are layered within a steel frame and held in place by magnets. The overlapping layers allow underlying images to show through, suggesting both visual and symbolic superimposition—what is visible points to what remains unseen, hinting at a body in constant flux.

Both works explore the connection between the body, its image, and the sense of self. For me, the body is the basis of subjective experience. The presence of another can imply violence and erasure, or tenderness and freedom. This perspective also touches on current ethical questions: if software such as ChatGPT is perceived as possessing a self, does a body still matter? Would language and intelligence alone suffice for something to be recognised as conscious? My work counters this idea, insisting on the body as the site where the self emerges.

At the end of my residency, I recorded two walks through the building—one using a Uher Report tape recorder, the other with a Zoom H4n. I layered and subtly edited the recordings together with the artist Detlef Klepsch, creating an audio piece that echoes the exhibition’s themes of proximity, repetition, and difference. Visitors could listen to it on headphones in the exhibition.

The exhibition extended beyond the project space: in a nearby former transformer tower, a monitor showed the video “White Balance (single-channel version)” (2024), accompanied by a large banner image.

With the group exhibition Tender Territories, the Borderland Residencies program came to an end. I presented a variation of “White Balance” (wall object).

Likeness is part of a series of works that deal with body and space, image borders and imagination: Suture, White Balance, Nothing and Subcooled. I started this series after I worked on an essay on VALIE EXPORTs works.