Individual Works
ObituariesWe each had a grandfather we never knew. Both men were contemporaries in the historic arena of Germany during WWII. Both died during or shortly after the war. As their personae unfold for us from material handed down to us by our relatives in the forms of obituaries, condolence letters and personal artifacts, two different ends of German society reveal themselves. In juxtaposition and within our interpersonal presence their stories begin taking on a different shape.
MATERIALS This book is free-standing structure built in the style of a "French Doors" binding to facilitate juxtaposition, merging and variations of overlays of two opposing sides. All eight pages can be moved by the viewer. Each of the eight pages is transparent, made of plexi glass in order to exaggerate the sense of simultaneity. Tactile materials are introduced on two juxtaposing pages. How might these two men have felt as grandfathers? As we try to portray our fantasies of these men to each other it is important to us to interweave an element of visceral memory, of imaginary qualities which we base on what has been handed down to us. Unique book. translations to pages 3/4
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Tearing/ZerrenThis work is about trusts and mistrusts. Our mutual apprehensions are in a state of flux and occasionally in contradiction. Sometimes they dissolve on their own, only to resurface later in a different form. Developing
trust is the pillar of our connection. Yet, it is a complicated dynamic that is at times tense and anxious but,
at other times, it flows easily, is playful and even comfortable. A play on the word vertrauen (trust) appears
in German within the tangle of paper strips: anvertrauen (to entrust, to share), mistrauen (to distrust), trauen
(to dare), trauern (to mourn). English and German phrases stream from our hands as if extensions of our fingers.
Both Mending and Tearing are installations that may vary according to the expressive potentials of a specific location and space. MATERIALS Two sets of handmade paper casts of each of our hands, handmade paper strips, text is rubber stamped and stenciled. |
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HeimatThis book only measures 5 inches x 4 inches x 1 inch and is small enough so we were able to send it back and forth through the mail. It has a diary-quality and unfolds page-by-page through concise, sometimes stream-of-consciousness entries. Uneasy about the term Heimat we have tried to wrestle with the worlds that this term evokes, often through juxtaposing conflicting bits of memories, ideas, quotes, and claims and we look at our identities through the lens of a most intimate part of our lives, our different German homes.
MATERIALS The book is printed on handmade pigmented paper with inclusions of horse hair, wire and European maps. It has 176 pages, which are sewn onto raised cords with wooden boards covered in leather, following designs of the medieval girdle book. The text is hand stamped. The images are family pictures, transferred onto aluminum plates and printed on the lithographic press. Unique book. |
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pushmepullyou In this book we grapple with the issue of scapegoating. The book was originally made for an exhibit called Suendenbock (Scapegoat) staged by the Jewish artist group Meshulash in the context of the Jewish Culture Days
at the Centrum Judaicum, Berlin (September 2007).
As we wrestled with the subject of scapegoating, we realized that stereotyping and typifying each other as "German" or "Jew" was not only an issue for our parents' generation but that we, too, held vestiges of such images and feelings. Those images unfold in the pages of this book, moving simultaneously from both ends of the pages and meeting in the center. MATERIALS Piano hinge binding made of shaped handmade pages bound with horse hair. Text generated through transfers, rubber stamping and stenciling. Images generated from transfers, digital printing and linoleum cuts. 36 pages. Unique book. |
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where art thouIn this work we look at our relationship to each other, one that has been defined by questions of communal belonging in Germany in the aftermath of the Shoah. Each of us could easily hide among our respective groups of origin (Jewish and non-Jewish), yet we set out to name the conflicts that make us absent or present to each other. When meeting in the uncomfortable terrain of Heimat (home), we affirm our geographic and personal proximity despite the respective messages of caution and suspicion we have received from our cultural surroundings.
The voices of Jean Amery and Bernhard Schlink amplify our own discomfort; added as citations on the outside rims of the left and right panels, their words remind us of the larger context within which our personal encounter takes place: LEFT PANEL "How much home does a person need?" | "Wie viel Heimat braucht der Mensch?" JEAN AMERY - AT THE MIND’S LIMIT RIGHT PANEL "Home is a non-place, home is utopia” | "Heimat ist ein Nicht-Ort, Heimat ist Utopie” BERNARD SCHLINK - HEIMAT ALS UTOPIE MATERIALS Plexi panels with incised text, sandwiched photographic transparencies, horse hair, handmade paper swatches with text stencils, mirror with photo transfers and map, rusted steel frame with hinges and text. Installed on wall. Left and right panels can be turned by viewer. |
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who am I in your presenceIn this work we address the levels of apprehension that we experience when encountering each other. There
is a distinct layer that feeds from our allegiances to and compassion for our relatives. There is also a less distinct
layer of messages and clichés that we have inherited and that we carry with us. We may have filtered, censored
or edited these messages but still tend to withhold them from each other. Lastly, on yet another level, we share
with each others these "secrets" or are just about to do so. When we meet, all of these layers of information about
the past and where we come from are present. The German map in the background places our pasts as well as our present in specific local geographies. The viewer is invited into the situation through the presence of a scratched mirror: the interaction of a third party anchors our dichotomies in the present moment.
MATERIALS Plexi panels with incised text, sandwiched photographic transparencies, horse hair, handmade paper swatches with photo transfers, map, mirror,mounted in rusted steel frame with hinges and installed on wall. Left and right panels can be turned by viewer. |
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wit(h)nessThis book is about the process of integrating the Shoah into our respective lives, a responsibility to navigate
carefully between remembrance and respectful distancing. In spite of the burden of history we do not want to lose sight of the wish to live life joyfully. The girdle book format allows for an element of weight as the book is carried on a belt in the folds of one's clothing. Is it possible to enjoy life when aware of such trauma? Is it permissible to create distance from the past to live in the present with joy? We explore these issues cautiously, inviting the reader to trace the ghost-like text with all of her or his senses.
MATERIALS This book has been bound as a traditional medieval girdle book. The pages are hand made from cotton pulp with horse/human hair and twine inclusions and sewn onto double raised cords. The cover is made of board and felt. The text is blind printed on the letterpress with 42 point Bulmer, Italic and 36 point Courier fonts. Colophon and images are digitally generated. 38 pages. Edition of 5. Included in "500 Handmade Books", Volume 3, Lark Books, 2013 |
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with/drawing: a triptychThis work summarizes a sense of past and future, which coalesces as a process in the present. We all have stories
that grow from past relics. As we remember our respective stories as a Jew and
a German our narratives emerge from the ground on tattered strips of paper, then coming together as legible text at the top of the typewriter. We also tell a story together, a story now transparent to the public. Here, the text emerges perpendicular to the writing direction and hangs loosely in the air on transparent foil.
MATERIALS This installation consists of 3 typewriters - culled from our parent's inventory - suspended from the ceiling. Two typewriters have long handmade paper scrolls inserted into them with transferred text that phases into torn and tattered strips. A third typewriter has strips of transparencies inserted into it with text transfers on most of the strips. The torn paper text strips rise from a pile of horse hair and torn uniform materials on the floor. Each typewriter has a pair of handmade paper casts of hands with text stencils. Installation at Soho20 Chelsea Gallery, New York, 2012 |
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Happy birthday, Karen,from the country of the Reichsprogromnacht and also from the day of the Mauerfall. If any one, you are the one who is aware of that history on the day of celebrating your life, and each year of your life.
Björn Herzlichen Glueckwunsch zum Geburtstag, Karen, aus dem Land der Reichsprogromnacht und auch des Tages des Mauerfalls. Wenn irgend jemand, dann bist Du es, die sich der Geschichte dieses Tages, an dem Du Dein Leben und jedes neues Jahr Deines Lebens feierst, bewusst bist. Björn MATERIALS: handmade paper casts with text stencils of one of each of our hands, handmade paper strips with text stencils, German one one side, English on reverse |
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PRINTS
"Trauma" and "Ghosts" We have received some heartfelt feedback from our public and some of these responses have affected our dialogue. These two prints incorporate elements of some of these responses - embedded into either text or design. Our dialogue is couched into the format of an illuminated page and provides a lens into a fragment of our conversation. In the effort to make our work available for sale and for collections we made these two works in an edition of 40 copies each. MATERIALS: Lithography and letterpress printed on pigmented handmade paper with text stencils. 18" x 24", variable edition of 40 each. "Ghosts" 2009 "Trauma" 2013 |
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