Technofossils

Technofossils is Hendrik Czakainski’s title for the work he is presenting in Völklingen—and it is well suited to its aesthetic and message. Deposited as sediments, such remains will presumably what tells the story of us and our era—if someone or something makes the effort to look into it. Reminiscent at first, presumably not unintentionally, in terms of perspective and composition of aerial photography or zoomed-in satellite images, on closer inspection they turn out to be detailed assemblages. Coming from traditional painting, Czakainski enhanced his oeuvre by employing medium-density fiberboard, nets, spackle, and iron powder to create a hybrid form between painting and model building in his Berlin studio. The color structures are partially corroded and evoke the flipside of our economic and social order: slagheaps and slums. As profits increase, the use of resources and the exploitation of “human materials” increase as well. The growth logic of Homo oeconomicus always ensures—at least for the invisible hand of its beneficiary—that the slagheap of mental and material toxic waste will grow as well—as Hendrik Czakainski has deftly illustrated.