Steam Objects 8
For this series Heiko Hellwig joined forces with Swiss artist Dan Aetherman to photograph his magnificent Steampunk machines. These whimsical artworks are not only functional, but made of 100% salvaged material. The "Underwood Typewriter" with it's reclaimed modern screen computes, and the "Zenobiaflex" with it's digital back generates 1MP photographic files. Hellwig staged the artworks as if hovering and flying through time and space into our clean modern world for everybody to enjoy the vision of a different future with a good sense of humor.
I discovered the magic of photography at the age of six, for it allowed me to visually capture an instant of the real world. Even more amazing for me was, and still is, the fact that photographs can reveal much more than just appearances: the attentive observer can always perceive other layers or levels in them. Levels that today I can render visible and present to experience thanks to various photographic techniques.
This heightened visibility is not always just esthetic, but always more exciting, for it tries to penetrate the surfaces of the real world and invite beholders to reflect. My work is largely inspired by the Bauhaus artists Oskar Schlemmer and Lyonel Feininger.
