Conflict Zone Living Room
Digital photography, 40x60cm
A living room.
A place of retreat.
A familiar space.
The evening begins quietly.
Couch, light, screen, everyday life.
The anticipation of a cozy movie night is there.
Chips and drinks are ready.
Then images burst in.
News from conflict zones,
Violence, destruction, war.
They appear on the screen
and shift the space
in which they are seen.
The private interior remains the same –
and yet it no longer is.
Staged living space with projected house ruins and self-portrait.
The evening news bursts into our living rooms.
They confront us with armed conflicts,
with violence and war crimes.
We see and hear about it from afar.
Not on site.
Not directly involved.
And yet not untouched.
Your own retreat offers protection –
but no way to help.
And no way to escape perception completely.
Conflict Zone Living Room asks
what news of wars and violent conflicts do to us,
when they invade our everyday lives.
A conflict that happens outside –
and yet continues to have an effect inside.
Starting point / context
The starting point for the work was the theme “In Conflict” as part of the Celeste Prize 2017.
The reference to war, destruction and media coverage was not intended as documentation of a single event.
The decisive question for me was how such news reaches the private sphere – and how it changes perceptions there.
Image creation / working method
For this work, I transferred elements of a destroyed house into the living space.
The building was in Hamburg and was demolished.
The photo of the ruined house was subsequently edited and inserted into the scene as a projection.
This changes the familiar place:
Living room, couch, television and everyday objects remain visible.
At the same time, an image of destruction penetrates this protected space.
The newsreader is a self-portrait.
Not as a reporter on location,
but as a figure in his own media interior.
Working material
Shot against a neutral background,
the self-portrait was adapted to the appearance of a German television news program.
The scene is arranged.
Fictional in its structure –
and yet real in its basis.
The work does not show a concrete war.
It shows a state of perception.
News reaches us from afar.
But they don’t stay outside.
They appear in their own space.
And continue to have an effect there.