(research project), 2016 - today / Berlin / videos, photographs, notes

*In 2020, I wrote my diploma thesis “Reading Art, Means Reading Traces.” It centered on a mysterious line I discovered years ago in my neighborhood—a thin yet strong mark in the pavement that stretches over two kilometers. Alterations from construction along its path suggest it is quite old. Despite no clear reason for its existence, I doubted it was intentionally placed. I did find that it followed the shortest route between its two ends without arbitrary detours. This discovery profoundly influenced my thinking about art, particularly regarding its origin: was it a trace or something functional, perhaps even art? Could I appropriate it as art myself?

Years later, I read an article about someone offering tourist tours along the line. They didn’t know its origin either. A few years after that, another article claimed to have found the answer, stating the line was a work of art exhibited in 2012. I located the exhibition documentation and the artist’s name, but there is no proof this person is truly responsible since all the documentation does is show photos of the line as it looks today. There are no documents showing how it was made or anything similar. Neither the gallery staff nor the artist responded to inquiries from the newspaper or me.*