"Queens Square"

"Queens-Square" includes a series of six digital collages that were done over the course of several visits to P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Queens, Long Island City, New York, in March 2000. The Center is located in an old public school and is now known as P.S.1. In cooperation with the Museum of Modern Art, P.S.1. had organized an important multi-media exhibition within the school's old brick walls and had caught the attention of the international art scene.

Coming from Manhattan on the subway and getting off at the first station in Queens, one is taken by the chaotic urban scene, a veritable salmagundi of dilapidated buildings, modest homes, empty lots, abandoned factories and a modern glass-tower. The patchwork landscape is mind-boggling.

All the original photos were taken at four different locations: inside and outside P.S.1, in the interior courtyard and on the roof of the building, where the view of Queens and Manhattan is spectacular.

The pictures inspired me to create several collages by "welding" four photos together digitally, thus the title "Queens Square". The intensity of the colours reflects the most colourful shapes of this area. At the same time, I tried to highlight the madness of the urban reality in this part in New York City.

With this work I also want to pay tribute to the excellence of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, a defining force in New York's cultural life, a venue for different contemporary artistic expressions, a showcase for a rich variety of media and techniques.