Malte Sänger

Abdrücke

Abdrücke (imprints)

2018
Pigment Inkjetprints (100cm x 100cm),
photosensitive paper, Text (framed, 35cm x 50cm)

Preisträger "gute aussichten – junge deutsche fotografie" 2018/2019 // Awardee "gute aussichten – new german photography" 2018/2019

Abdrücke (imprints) shows detailed satellite pictures enhanced with pins to mark specific locations. Alongside these, photos sourced from social media uploads by individuals who found themselves displaced from their homes. These social media photos have faded right after their creation due to the use of an unstable chemical and therefore deliberately been rendered indistinct.

Captions beneath these visuals provide information such as coordinates and capture dates, both embedded within the original digital image. Additionally, details about the cellular device used, including its model and serial number are provided. Also included are short text passages that reflect on capitalist exploitation that originate from the literature research for this project.

This artwork was conceived as a form of criticism aimed at a system that perceives individuals escaping violence, conflict, and displacement merely as statistics, reducing them to quantifiable (digital) masse and therefore preventing them from participating in political sphere as equals among equals.

Central to this project was the emulation of a bureaucratic data processing apparatus, with the goal of spotlighting the dehumanizing outlook and actions that in part pervade in politics, media, and society.