A Picture Finds Mercy

This project engages with artworks that were labeled “degenerate” by the National Socialist regime and subsequently destroyed or lost. Rather than attempting a manual reconstruction, the images are re-approached through a biological, time-based process.

Flies interact with surfaces prepared with pigments derived from ground bomb rubble from World War II. These pigments are mixed into a sugar solution, which the flies ingest and later deposit while moving across the image surface. Guided by controlled light and temperature, their behavior generates traces that gradually reconstitute fragments of the original compositions.

The exhibition at STRABAG includes a light installation in which only one work is illuminated at a time, while all others remain in darkness. The light moves from image to image, directing the visitors’ movement through the space and mirroring the light-based navigation that guided the flies during the image-forming process.

Developed over a period of more than two years, the project frames reconstruction not as restoration, but as a material, historical, and ethical inquiry into destruction, memory, and the conditions under which images can reappear.

Special thanks to Jürgen Branz for the outstanding sound installation.
My sincere gratitude to Carla Berger, whose research was fundamental to the development of this project, and to all others whose support made its realization possible.
A big thank you to STRABAG and the entire team for their generous support and collaboration.