unnötige Bewegungen (x), archival pigment print, aluminium frame, 37,5 x 25 cm, 2024

unnötige Bewegungen (focus), archival pigment print, brass frame, 35 x 25 cm, 2024

The term Unnötige Bewegungen [Unnecessary Movements] originates in Scientific Management and refers to any motion by a person or machine during production that does not generate value. In the early 20th century, Lillian Moller and Frank Bunker Gilbreth developed motion studies to optimize work processes. They attached lights to the limbs of workers and recorded their movements using long-exposure photography—
a technique also referred to as light painting, which is often used today to showcase innovations in photographic technology within amateur and hobbyist contexts.

The series consists of photographs made with sparklers in spaces associated with reproductive labor—my bed, my balcony, a jetty by a lake in Brandenburg. The project is ongoing and may expand beyond these locations. Each image begins with the impulse to communicate something, often an attempt at writing. The burning duration of the sparkler determines the exposure time of the photograph. In selecting images, I focus on moments in which my initial intentions dissolve—or give way to other artistic considerations or visual qualities, such as composition.

unnötige Bewegungen (liminal), archival pigment print, brass frame, 35 x 25 cm, 2024

unnötige Bewegungen (liminal), Installation view They Are putting out apples, it must be fall, Kunstverein Bielefeld, 2024

unnötige Bewegungen (x), archival pigment print, aluminium frame, 37,5 x 25 cm, 2024