composite space I
2010
C-print 160x200cm

I spent several research periods in the city of Los Angeles investigating the ways in which this city represents itself. During and after these visits I collected different elements such as film-stills, photographs, texts and architectural models, all loosely related to the 1939 novel “Ask the Dust” by John Fante. This material became the base for an architectural installation entitled “City (Composite Space I-XI)”.

Instead of using traditional two-dimensional techniques, I reconstructed the found material life-size from wood, paint, plaster, and a variety of other materials into a kind of “spatial” 3-D form of collage. It was photographically documented during the process of building.

The city is seen as a complex structure made up of imaginary depictions, acute representations and strata of stories and memories that are in a constant state of flow. The structure of the installation was based on collage like aesthetics derived from Mac OS-X and Windows, echoing and incorporating the form in which most of the source-material presented itself during the research periods. The end-products are 7 large handprinted analogue photographs. The work tries to merge lens-based media, architecture, interfaces and stage design into an organic whole.