Somewhere Else is Closer than You Think
2022 - ongoing
In Collaboration with Julia Wilhelm
Somewhere Else is Closer than You Think is a non-linear, photographic and sonic narrative that explores the mountain Zugspitze as an ecosystem through the lens of five different characters, who each have a specific relationship to the mountain. The project was composed through several investigative hiking trips and ongoing research on the ecosystem and the beings entangled in it. It touches upon ecological degradation, shifting species communities, hiking culture, Alpine tourism, and fluid notions of time, ultimately raising the question of how we want to relate to the world surrounding us.
The Zugspitze is part of the German Alps, where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the average in Europe due to the climate crisis. The mountain was once covered by the largest glacier in Germany, but not much of it remains today. This change is not only perceptible visually; it has consequences for the entire ecosystem. People, animals, and plants are all affected.
In the installation, visitors are invited to follow the journey of a butterfly forced to migrate to higher altitudes, listen to the voice of the glacier's meltwater, embodying a fluid notion of time, and witness a group of scientists debating ecosystemic changes and their connection to larger sociopolitical events. Other voices include the figure of a grandpa, an ambitious hiker eager to conquer and control, and the Zugspitze company, who owns a large tourism complex on top of the mountain.
By giving space for this multiplicity of voices, the project aims to reveal the complexity of the climate crisis and refuses telling a one-sided narrative.
The loss of all glaciers in the Alps is inevitable. If we perceive this tragic issue as an incentive to question our relationship with the environment and take necessary steps to counteract ecological degradation, we might dare to start using our imagination to envision different futures.
Parts of the texts of the characters can be listend through SoundCloud
