An Idea: the attigit.projekt

Susanne Krell

Creating a rubbing of a location means coming in physical contact with an (intellectual) edifice. For me, rubbings represent the forms of order, the regulations and the ideas for which the respective building stands. The concept for this project arose during a visit to the prehistoric stone rows and dolmens in the Breton site of Carnac several years ago while in search of a suitable opportunity to take something from a place, yet without destroying it:
the idea of the rubbing (frottage) as the act of collecting a trace.
Photographs and drawings are made at a distance from the object; only the frottage requires distance-less physical contact. A process of approach is necessary, being-on-location a prerequisite. Something must be brought into physical contact: attigit - has touched. This calls for a concrete object. A frottage shows an impression of the surface, individual and unique to the site of ideas, and is similar to a fingerprint.

The building, the infrastructure of ideas, typically retains its physical location. For the attigit.projekt, three monotheistic religions were taken up in the form of rubbings of buildings representative of each. Each structure journeys to the other by means of the frottage. Through transportation of the frottage to another location, where it is brought in contact with another building, a new dimension emerges. The result is contact among the ideas themselves.

St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
Frottage made 27th July 2003 / Contact with Wailing Wall, 1st December 2006

Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo
Contact with St. Peter's Basilica and making of a frottage, 29th October 2003

Wailing Wall, Jerusalem
Contact with Al-Azhar Mosque and making of a frottage, 30th April 2006