pavlov’s dog

It is common knowledge that the things people dispose of can tell a great deal about their former owners. So it seems that every pile of bulky waste is also a carrier of manifold information of a no longer existent interior space and about the people who once lived in and arranged it to their taste. Ralph Schulz has become a master in deciphering this fragmented and scrappy information.

Ralph Schulz picks up the piles of bulk waste and takes them into his studio only to re-build the pieces of furniture, carpets, plants and other things into a complete room again. At the end of this reconstruction process is the creation of the space and how it may have looked in its original version. For the reconstruction process Schulz only uses the pieces from one pile of waste. By imagining how the former owner of the things would have arranged the room, Schulz tries to build an authentic reconstruction – despite knowing that it will always be hypothetical. But through the photographic reproduction of the interior, which imitates the sculptural process of reconstruction, a seemingly realistic level is added to the model of the room: When regarding a photograph it is imminent that the viewer immediately imagines to find a true reality in the depicted space as this is the notion of photography. However, Schulz‘ work is not only a melancholic study of no longer existent spaces but also a reflection on the character of photography. (mehr …)