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Simone Rueß (2021). de-re-konstrukt – "Lass uns von vorne beginnen...", pp. 98-107
Simone Rueß (2021). de-re-konstrukt – "Lass uns von vorne beginnen...", pp. 98-107
A large part of society is affected by dementia in the elderly; in Germany alone, there are currently around 1.8 million people (2021). Unnoticed by a large part of society, they usually live in a secluded everyday life. With the FRAGILE REMEMBERING project, Simone Rueß gives senior citizens with fragile memory a voice and makes the perception of dementia patients accessible on a visual-practical level.
The drawings presented in the Ernst Berendt House are based on personal descriptions of residents that Simone Rueß visited regularly from 2019 to 2022. In conversations, she gave them the opportunity to talk about their biographies. She gradually visualised their mental images in the form of drawings, which are shown to the interlocutors during further visits. The graphic approaches establish a connection to the experiences and emotions of the patients and bring to light further memories that the patients themselves or those close to them thought had long been forgotten. The artist also observed how the images could act as memory aids when memory became more fragile. She is interested in how the understanding of space is defined by childhood, the present, fellow human beings, objects, the environment or geopolitical events, depending on the ability to remember. The exhibition in the retirement home enabled an exchange with nursing staff, carers and relatives, which had a direct impact on the everyday lives of the patients.
On the constructed 23-metre-long footbridge in the garden of Gallery Le Guern, visitors actively contribute to a connection across physical distance through their participation on 4 September 2021. Built from material from Warsaw and Berlin, the bridge is the starting point of the happening. The Varsavian artist Krzysztof Franaszek is present on site in the gallery garden, while Berlin artist Simone Rueß is present on the bridge digitally on a screen. Visitors can follow how the two artists meet again virtually, and they can also talk live with the Berlin artist. The installation invites visitors to share their current (border) experiences during the pandemic. The happening makes the transnational relationship tangible and evokes memories of territorially specific border cases. The action relates digital and physical proximity to each other. Differences in distances are experienced, spatial approaches are tested and digital and analogue presence are negotiated with each other.
When the pandemic started, the Warsaw–Berlin train could no longer cross the border. The disrupted connection became the theme of the artists’ action Meeting at the Border of 8 June 2020. At the Frankfurt–Słubice border crossing on the bridge across the Oder, Simone Rueß was stopped 50 meters before the checkpoint, where Krzysztof Franaszek stood waiting. Separated by only a few meters of space, the friends could not talk to each other directly. They approached passers-by to carry their drawings and notes across the border. The border guards asked Rueß after 30 minutes to leave the border area. Franaszek was requested to step back, as well. For another two hours, the artists exchanged notes across the bridge with the assistance of random mail carriers. Thanks to their experience, the artists understood the difficult situation of the inhabitants of Słubice and Frankfurt (Oder) when the possibility of cooperation and communication was interrupted.
The action Meeting on the Warsaw– Berlin Express Train of 14 December 2019 speaks about both the personal relationship between Simone Rueß and Krzysztof Franaszek and, more broadly, the relationship between Poland and Germany. The artists boarded trains departing respectively from Warsaw and Berlin at 5:36 in the morning and travelled towards each other. Their joint journey started in Poznań. The train car turned into a place of encounter along the line joining two points, always moving towards one of them. Whenever the artists became disorientated, they would record their experience in the two languages.
Starting in 2019, Simone Rueß and Krzysztof Franaszek have been emailing each other with photographs which capture the transition of both Berlin and Warsaw. Placed in the context of distance separating the artists’ home cities, their mutual communication and exchange inspires and informs the de- re- konstrukt project. Rueß and Franaszek have classified more than 400 photographs into thematic strands which underlie an ever-expending network of relations, including: line; border; construction; deconstruction; communication; loops; positive; negative.
Simone Rueß i Krzysztof Franaszek od 2019 roku przesyłają sobie pocztą e-mail kadry fotograficzne dokumentujące procesy i dynamikę przemian Berlina i Warszawy. Komunikacja i wymiana w kontekście dystansu pomiędzy miastami, w których artyści żyją i pracują stały się równorzędną inspiracją i składowymi częściami projektu de-re-konstrukt. Rueß i Franaszek sklasyfikowali ponad 400 fotografii w zestaw tematów tworzących stale rozwijającą się sieć powiązań. Należą do nich: linia, granica, konstrukcja, dekonstrukcja, komunikacja, pętle, pozytyw, negatyw.
Seit 2019 schicken sich Simone Rueß und Krzysztof Franaszek via Email Fotos, die dynamische Veränderungsprozesse in Berlin und Warschau dokumentieren. Im Kontext der Entfernung zwischen den Heimatstädten der Künstler*innen inspiriert der fotografische Austausch das Projekt de- re- konstrukt. Rueß und Franaszek gliedern die über 400 Alltagsfotografien in Kategorien wie Linie, Grenze, Konstruktion, Dekonstruktion, Kommunikation, Schlaufen, Positiv und Negativ, welche ein sich ständig erweiterndes Netz aus Verknüpfungen bilden.
