waiting with an axe for the unknown
Artist book
Vienna, 2013 22,6 x 29,4 cm
Hardcover, signed & hand-bound by the artist
76 pages + 24 pages inlay
Edition: 25 (with individual covers)
Waiting with an axe for the unknown examines the topic of doing-nothing (to liger), seen as a radical and political act. The book contains analogue, digital and wet plate photographs. The images are interrupted by quotations. A lot of the images are made with an ancient photographic technique called wetplate process. A technique which deprives itself with it’s complicated setup from the fast moving pace of our time. With its essayistic approach the book invites the viewer to contemplate themselves. While the images allow a very wide range of interpreations the texts leads the viewer towards the topic of doing-nothing, time and economy. Towards the end of the book one finds a little book in the book. It contains an excerpt of a chapter of Thoreau’s book “Walden”, where he writes about living a simple life. I believe that in this time, where everything is suppose to get faster, cheaper and more effective. Doing-nothing is a really strong statement. For me “doing-nothing” includes not consuming, which gives it a lot of political potentional. In an mobile and online society it is difficult not to consume or not to be distracted by something constantly. This is why it is such a radical thing for me. A special aspect of the book are its unique cover. Together they show one collective photograph. The common title images disappears as soon as the first copies are sold. Each book is a unique copy.