Schneckenhaus-Sammlung

2021/2023

For my ongoing project Schneckenhaus-Sammlung I am collecting snail shells from all over the world, which I receive by mail. I am documenting them with analog b/w photography. Afterwards they got pulverized into fine sand. Transferred into test tubes, marked with date and place of origin, they are archived and presented as temporary traces.

The accompanying sound collage of the video work „Wolkensonate mit Schnecke“ is based on a samples ASMR sound of snails eating cucumbers, lettuce and green watermelon.

Another part of the project are black and white photos of people wearing snail shells as heads, which were found in an old family album. The snail shells are part of the snail shell collection and are placed on top of the photographs. By photographing them again, the snail shells are brought together with the photograph – various fragments of time and memory leave space for the viewer’s own associations.
Added to this, the drawing „Flûtiste“ that shows a portrait of the US jazz trombonist and snail horn virtuoso Steve Turré.