The COFA Annual 2013

On our path through life, we have – at turning points, again and again – to decide, which path to take. But the difficulty to reach a decision can hardly be expressed in terms; much less visualised. As soon as different possibilities are offered to us, our dilemma begins. Which way is best to reach our target – and which above all is the right direction? I am asking myself this question at each intersection: to change course or to continue forward, whether this is a crossing with equal streets, or a steep and narrow path which could lead to a shortcut, or to a trap or dead end road, and whether the forking paths lead in completely different directions or meet each other again after a small detour? Most likely, the other path would have been the better one – but usually we cannot go back in life. This catalogue features a series of works which illustrate the difficulty of decision-making. The panoramic landscapes follow the tradition of veduta. But here they turn into illustrations of different species of decisions; nature so becomes a sculptor of the ideal path. Sometimes the paths are almost similar; in other cases there is the narrow and the wide, the left and the right, the easy and the steep path to see - which we already know from the myth of Hercules, who had to choose between virtue and vice. On a closer look more details grow to be visible; small trails come into view and dead end roads are only obvious at a second glance. Looking at these landscapes, there is still more to see that reminds us of bypasses and ramifications, like rivers and trees. They all have their individual shape, the straight trunk diverges sooner or later into several boughs and those fork again into various branches. The constructed environment also offers many options. Paths which open up in front of us may lead to different doors and gates. A series of drawings shows different categories, into which forking paths could be classified. Supported by maps and aerial views, I investigated intersections at places which I was visiting and took photographs on-site. My imagination often differed from what I found on the spot; due to bad weather conditions in winter, some bifurcations were hardly visible or sometimes blocked by construction sites. Therefore, new temporary paths appeared, visible as footprints in the snow. The drawings are presented together with satellite images and on location photographs. A collection of possible forking-paths is assembled in a mission statement for this study.

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