// CAN YOU HEAR THE AUTOBAHN II (Heartpiece), 2003
Concrete, core wire
CA. 400 x 500 CM ca. 13,2 x 16,4 feet

This work is a slightly altered reconstruction of an installation from 2000. The Autobahn is omnipresent in Germany. It is a german myth and trauma as it is closely linked to the consequences of the Nazi regime.
In the seventies West Germany’s politics declared the aim that every german household, should be offered access to the Autobahn within ten minutes. Where they succeeded, the Autobahn has become an integrant part of life. ”Can you hear the Autobahn?” and ”The Autobahn is very loud today” are sentences that we remember from our earliest childhood.
The Autobahn is a point where nature and zivilisation crash into each other. Where nature used to be the all embracing “magna mater” it is now closed in and in the need of protection itself.
In this installation the Autobahn is used as an abstract form. It shows centers, directions and crossings of interest. Simplified and aesthetisised it refers to itself as well as to it’s voids.

The subtitle refers to a piece by Heiner Müller, where one person offers to an other to put her heart to her feet. “[…] But this is a brick. Your heart is a brick,” says the second person after cutting the heart out with the help of a penknife. “But it beats only for you.” //