Und endlich gar nichts
(And finally nothing at all)
Video installation, stop-motion animation, silent, 89 minutes.
In 1757, the missionary Joseph Cranz had to cross the Alps over the Füelpass to get from Susch in the Engadine to Davos. He was horrified by the steady loss of vegetation the higher he got and wrote in his diary: "When the trees and after them the Alps cease because of the great cold, one sees only a little grass between the piles of stones, then only moss and finally nothing at all." (When the trees, and soon after them the Alps, stop because of the extreme cold, all you see is a little grass between the piles of stones, then only moss, and finally nothing at all).
Inspired by Cranz's diary entry from 1757, I photographed the ground as I climbed the mountain and stitched the images together in a stop-motion animation. I started in the valley and stopped at the top of the mountain.
Installation view at S.P.A.M Contemporary, Düsseldorf, 2013
