A Bird Sitting On A Bench, 2026
2-channel HD video installation, 13’49’’, 29’55” loop, soundscape, audiotext (voice by Mareike Aden, ARD correspondent)

Two-screen audio-video installation show movements of the cargo ships on the Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal),
inviting the viewer to think about how distant trade, conflict and climate reshape a quiet local scene from various perspectives.

The ships move minerals, grain, industrial goods, energy, etc. By watching their movement, we realise that
an 'ordinary' landscape in a rural area is actually a central artery of global trade. The canal saves time and
fuel for shipping companies and northern European ports, reinforcing their economies. A viewer sitting on
the bank of the Kiel Canal is not outside this system. The phones in our pockets, the clothes we wear, the
food in the fridge and the energy in our homes may have travelled on similar vessels. At the same time,
this meditative procession of ships is also a flow of global risks (climate change, pollution, conflicts,
accidents, financial crises) whose consequences are felt locally.

A Bird Sitting on a Bench points to something we don't see. What remains unseen? What is
traded? As the world moves forward unstoppably, this mirrored installation invites us to pause and
listen to the bird.