Stefan Eichhorn Portfolio · (Mattresses) 2008 Mattresses, fabric, zipper 200 x 100 x 16 / 190 x 80 x 16 cm It is rumored that some of the Dresden art academie‘s longtime professors

Stefan Eichhorn Portfolio

During a 6-month research grant in 2010 in Chicago USA, I came across a phenomenon of the 1960s in America, within the so-called Countercul-ture or Hippie-movement. Created between mid-60’s to 70’s thousands of communities spread across the USA. They could be found in various forms, such as communal shared urban apartments to colonies in rural areas without access to electricity or water supply. As a parallel to the politicization of the so-called New Left countless young people left the cities to found their own settlements far away from civilization to try their hand at alternative approaches to life. While the New Left tried to chan-ge current politics through active participation, the Drop-Outs attempted civilization in their own social experiments, that were supposed to fi-nally lead into a new society. Interestingly, most of the Drop-Outs were heavily influenced by the theories of the designer and visionary Richard Buckminster Fuller who is regarded today as one spiritual founder of the American eco-movement, but also significantly influenced generations of architects and designers.

After years of working as a designer Fuller began to develop and pro-pagate his Geodesic Domes from the 50’s on. While he sold these stable, low-cost and mobile structures during the early years primarily to mili-tary and industry, they eventually obtained a large public with buildings like the American Pavilion for the World Exposition 1967 in Montreal, Canada. Fuller was also an active lecturer and college professor and the-refore held numerous lectures on various topics. In 1965 a small group of students who were already in the process founding one of the first and most influential hippie communes attended one of his lectures. Drop City, the name of the settlement, was built on a small piece of land in Trinidad,

Colorado reaching fame in the subculture in the following years. After being heavily impressed by Fuller, the founders of the settlement decided to eventually erect buildings in Fuller’s style to set up as shelters. For cost reasons they only used donated and found materials such as chicken wire, tar paper and bottle caps, unless they later begun to develop using cartop metal and to even modify Fuller’s classic designs. About 1969 Drop City consisted of nine domes or dome-like buildings. Although the settlement existed only a few years and was finally abandoned in the early

Work in Progress 1

Drop City, Trinidad, Colorado 1967

70’s, it influenced many other rural communities. Countless domes in dif-ferent shapes and sizes could be found in other hippie settlements at that time. The success of the Geodesic Dome within the Drop-Out movement was even enforced by self-produced books, magazines and manuals that supplied Hippies with building instructions for a variety of domes, expe-rience reports from other communes or such as tips for raising chickens. Some of the best known today are Steward Brands issues of the Whole Earth Catalog or Lloyd Khan’s Dome Book I or Dome Book II.

I am personally interested in the rise and fall of the visionary Geo-desic Domes in connection with the American hippie movement. While numbers of newly founded communes peaked at the beginning of the 70’s, a decade later almost every single one had vanished. The failure can be attributed to various reasons, however, the primary reasons were chro-nic lack of money and social disputes within the respective group. Of the thousands of self-constructed domes survived only a few. Activists such as Lloyd Kahn who was one of the first that successfully encouraged the counterculture with the publication of construction manuals, had to admit later, after he had visited numerous settlements, that domes were a rather uncomfortable way for communal living. In addition to the complicated design, they proved mostly as leaky and were difficult to furnish. Added to this was that new materials as propagated in Domebook or Whole Earth Catalog were found to be not durable. In 1973 Kahn finally published the essay Smart But Not Wise in his book Shelter in which he advises against the construction of domes and shows alternatives. Cover of Stewart Brand‘s Whole Earth Catalog

Selected Works 2

Operation Paperclip Installation, 2009

Object: carbon fiber, glass-fiber fabric, epoxy resin, HDF, varnish, cardboard, cloth

Approx. 140 x 240 x 200 cmDrawings: pencil and colored pencil on paper

Each 60 x 80 cm

My work Operation Paperclip resulted from my re-search into the 1996 X-Prize competition, organized by the American X-Prize Foundation, and the awards ceremony for the first private manned space flight. On September 29, 2004 SpaceShipOne, which belonged to the firm Scaled Composites, reached the required alti-tude of 100 km as the first of 13 other competitors to win the ten-million-dollar prize money. At the start of the 21st century, the large space-travel firms financed by governments are in a state of crisis. The American Space Agency NASA intends to withdraw its outdated space shuttles from service from 2010, even though the fol-low-up replacement Orion won’t actually be ready until 2014 at the earliest, whereas the European ESA is post-poning one mission after another. Private enterprises, such as VirginGalactic or SpaceX, are now seemingly vying with one another to fill this gap by working on the development of privately manned space travel. This si-tuation is comparable with the enthusiasm and optimism surrounding space travel in the 1950s and 1960s—with the difference that now it is all about privatesector inte-rests, not prestige objects for, and military research on behalf of, superpowers engaged in a Cold War.

Operation Paperclip comprises an object, a fragment of a spacecraft somewhere between completion and destruction, as well as three technical sketches and dra-wings. On closer scrutiny, it is apparent that we are dea-ling with a mock-up: the construction remains an empty shell or improvised setting , and the supposed inventions prove to be pure fantasy. The dream of flying ultimately remains a dream in this instance.

Operation Paperclip Installation details

Koffer(Case)

2010Plywood, imitation leather, hinges,

suitcase locks, handle53 x 35 x 79 cm

The work »Koffer« (case) is a replica of a prop from the German crime film »Das Schwarze Schaf« (1960) with actor Heinz Rüh-mann as Father Brown, who engages himself with criminology - to the displeasure of the church leaders. In the film the case is used as an actually unimportant element for the plot: It serves as a transport for an architectural model of a planned church that Father Brown collects donations for.

My work copies the case and shows it without the a church model as a possible original prop from a long forgotten film in which the most important part - the model or the idea - is lost.

Artist in residence (Installation view: Closed state)

2008 Wall, wood, mattress, fabric, leather, alarm clock

190 x 0 x 80 cm

The installation »Artist in residence« is a fold-out bed, located in an artists studio. The artist used an existing wall to build in a fully useable bed, which can be hidden completely at daytime. A smart and space-saving solution for workaholics and the so-called new precarity.

Artist in residence (Installation view: Opened state)

2008 Wall, wood, mattress, fabric, leather, alarm clock

190 x 85 x 80 cm

Artist in residence (Details)

2008

Matratzen (Mattresses)

2008 Mattresses, fabric, zipper

200 x 100 x 16 / 190 x 80 x 16 cm

It is rumored that some of the Dresden art academie‘s longtime professors don‘t afford any flat in Dresden. Those mattresses are dedicated to them.The mattress covers are allover printed with the academie‘s logo. The work was shown in an exhibition entitled »Parasiten«.

Matratzen (Mattresses)

2008 Mattresses, fabric, zipper

200 x 100 x 16 / 190 x 80 x 16 cm

Erste Anzeichenvon Unsicherheit

(Installation sketches) 2007

Diameter 530 cm, height 410 cm

The so called »Storchennest« (translated: stork‘s nest) is an odd room, which is located at the Academy Of Fine Arts Dres-den, and generally used by students as a studio. It has a circular parquet floor, measuring approximately 7 meter in diameter, and an equably shaped dome above. Three circularly shaped windows are situated in northern direction. Due to »Storchen-nest« is the top room of a low turret, it is only accessable by climbing a tiny spiral staircase.

The temporary installation »Erste Anzeichen von Unsi-cherheit« (translated: First Signs Of Insecurity) originated spe-cifically for that room. It was a copy of the »Storchennest«, slightly tilted, placed in itself. However, it wasn‘t an identi-cally replica, but rather a piece of scenery; it was shrunk, but almost filling the whole room. The installation was accessible for visitors, whereby the whole got two sides: Inside the visi-tor got almost isolated, and due to slope, fake architecture and an unnatural echo, a feeling of physical shakiness arose. The only real vertical was a spherically shaped lamp, a copy of the real room‘s lamp, hanging from the middle. The installation‘s outside showed the contrast to the real »Storchennest«, as well as the uncovered back side construction such as the wooden frame, angles and screws.

Erste Anzeichen von Unsicherheit (Inside view) Mixed media

2007

Erste Anzeichen von Unsicherheit (Inside view) Mixed media

2007

Erste Anzeichen von Unsicherheit (Outside view)

Mixed media 2007

Erste Anzeichen von Unsicherheit (Outside view)

Mixed media 2007

Reaktor 2006

Wood, MDF-board, cardboard, fabric, foam rubber, linoleum

65 x 45 x 45 cm

Utveksling-Studenter (The Exchange-Student)

2006 Mixed Media

Approx. 80 x 500 x 500 cm

The installation originated for an exhibition in an old factory in Oslo (Norway) which was built at the end of the19th century and used till May 2006 as a studio building of the academy of arts there. Until the clo-sing there were almost ideal conditions on the students working there: The spacious studios reaching over four floors might be used round-the-clock, it existed a well equipped kitchen - shower and washing machine were likewise available. Beside that, a cleaning lady was in charge to clean the building five days a week. However, living in these rooms was strictly prohibited by the aca-demys administration, which nevertheless did not hold some students to do this.

In a fairly big studio space existed a wooden wall which was built in the distance of approximately 80 cm before the real wall. I discovered the unused space behind and installed a sleeping bunk which was not vi-sible from the studio and could be reached by a small door in the side wall that i likewise fit in. Inside one climbed about a ladder upwards and reached thus the hidden space which was very tiny and resembled rather a caravan. A bed, several shelves and tray surfaces, so-ckets, lamps as well as a fold out table were in it. The distance up to ceiling of the studio amounted about to 1.50 metres what meant that it was not possible to stand straight. However, because the wooden wall did not reach up to the ceiling you had a wonderful overview about the studio.

Utveksling-Studenter (Construction sketch)

2006

Utveksling-Studenter (Installation Details)

2006

Hokuspokus (Outside view)

2005 Mixed media

250 x 250 x 150 cm

The work Hokuspokus was developed in 2005 during the first of two Semesters as an exchange student at Statens Kunstakademi (SKA) Oslo / Norway, which was at that time situated in some undergoing process of reorganisation. In april 2005 the longtime dean of SKA, Michael O‘Donnell, was detached by the new dean of the also newly founded department for Visual Arts, Ståle Stens-lie. Michael O‘Donnell, British artist, has become some sort of symbol for the academy and has exerted major influence on the school during the last years. Thus he established that mostly all courses or seminars, even students presentations, were presented in English. Furthermore he was well-known for his rude British humour.

In May 2005 i have built a door, shrunk to 60 percent of the size of the original size into the entrance to his office. The idea was to prepare an exact copy of the entry but scaled down in eve-ry detail. Thus i made sure to concentrate on details, for example by making the room number smaller or to move the light switch inside the office appropriate to the new door frame. It occured to me to let the work appear from one day to another, shrunk over-night. Therefor i began the installation during some free days around 17th of May, the Norwegian national day. Thus most of the students, staff of the academy and even Michael O‘Donnell first noticed the change on 18th of May.

Hokuspokus (Inside view)

2005 Mixed media

250 x 250 x 150 cm

Go Practice (Together with Philipp Pink)

Invitation cover 2004

I have had the possibility to exhibit together with Phil-lip Pink at Senatssaal, a quite large but also difficult space which is located at The Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden. Its dimensions amount to 10 to 11 cubic me-tres floorspace and a height of approximately 16 metres. On one side, the hall has a huge window with a view of Brühlsche Terrasse and the River Elbe, two famous sights of the city. It can be closed with a blind. In the corners of the wall opposite the window are two doors. The floors are parquet and the high ceiling has a roof-light framed by stucco ornaments.

»Go Practice« has been an arena, a stage and cir-cus, completely using the space of the hall, including its physical characteristics. Our Installation consisted of a grey painted barrier, 1.80 metres high, framing the space and blocking views from the outside room with its height. To enter the hall you had to squeeze through a narrow gate, and the internal room opened only after passing it. The floor within the barrier was completely filled with a 10 cm thick layer of wood chips. To in-tensify the feeling of an arena and to put focus on the central area a strong stadium light was centrally moun-ted at a height of 9 metres to fill the room underneath with bright light. The window of the hall was covered and because it was not possible to block the rooflight, we set the exhibition´s daily opening time to 5 o‘clock in the afternoon since it was in December and the sun had already set at that time. Thus the only source of light was the stadium light. In the entrance area outside the hall we provided 3 water dispensers, which visitors could freely use.

Go Practice(Construction sketches)

2004

Go Practice(Exhibition‘s opening)

2004

Go Practice(Exhibition‘s opening)

2004

Go Practice(Installation details)

2004