k - [os°m°os]

The diagram shows a small-scale, symmetrical display of coloured toy building blocks: two opposing centres are enclosed in an ellipse of toy coins – on the right, a black wheel for French roulette and on the left, a yellow disc, a ball-less version of the well-known game of chance – through which a vertical line of blue plastic rods runs in the middle. The ellipse is traversed by arcs and curves consisting of colourful and varied toy building blocks, jetons, puzzle pieces or model building blocks, which, due to their arrangement, always feature gaps, passages and passages. The overall result is a dynamic diagram of tangential or intersecting lines of flight and circular movements, orbits and force fields that either undermine or pick up on the symmetry created. This cosmic-seeming dynamic leads to an initial association with the work. The intellectual starting point and inspiration for the specific arrangement are historical phenomena that Nadine Adam found described in the literature on Halle-Neustadt: in both West and East Germany, the economic challenges of the post-war period led to the prevalence of Fordism (Taylorism), which is discussed under the heading of “maximum efficiency” as a guiding principle of industry. This led to a focus on industrial prefabrication and modular construction on both sides in order to increase productivity and keep costs and time expenditure low. Are there not a multitude of such cross-border and cross-system maxims or principles that influenced life on both sides of the border and caused similar phenomena – despite mutual political and substantive demarcation? Analogous to plant cell walls, which delimit a functional system but remain permeable to certain substances, it can be concluded that political borders do not merely shield, but are also osmotic or completely permeable with regard to certain ideas, maxims or approaches. With this conceptual approach, the diagram k - [os°m°os] depicts an understanding of the system as dynamic and operating on different levels. The elliptical model made of building blocks can be understood as a diagram of diffusion and transformation.