[Mittelformatfotos: 60 x 80 cm, 70 x 105 cm, 20 x 30 cm, Laubholzsägearbeit, schwarzer Lack]

Gezeigt wurde die Arbeit in der Galerie anika handelt, anlässl. von EYES ON: 07.11.2012-12.01.2013
 (www.anikahandelt.com/galerie)

Concerning some things, we must rely on reports – on formats that tell us about events or matters of fact we cannot see for ourselves. As average media consumers, we know fairly little about the structures being built for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. We may have heard about the bidding process and seen all the representative gestures and presentations that were staged in this connection; we probably also noticed the production of grand significance that went with it. Yet all such symbolism aside, even with extensive research it is virtually impossible to find out about what is currently going on there.

The question of what the phenomenon called “Russian tourism” in Tyrol was about gave Catherine Ludwig the idea of turning the tables – she would travel to Sochi “disguised” as a German-Austrian ski tourist.

What she has brought back from her trip contradicts the advance praise adulatory media lavish on the 2014 Winter Olympics, which are described as offering immense potential for the Sochi region and have indeed set large-scale construction and infrastructure projects in motion. The pictures she created may strike the beholder as oddly touching.

To the inquiring observer who has lost her way seeing is the only possible way to regain her footing. Catherine Ludwig juxtaposes what would seem incompatible, phenomena she cannot entirely make sense of; but that is what allows her to generate visibility.

Über die Bauten für die Winterolympiade 2014 nahe Sotschi wissen wir als durchschnittliche Medienkonsumenten relativ wenig. Catherine Ludwig ist über die Frage, was es mit dem Phänomen des sogenannten "Russentourismus" in Tirol auf sich hat, auf die Idee gekommen, den Spieß umzudrehen und als deutsch-österreichische Skitouristin"verkleidet" nach Sotschi zu fahren.

Sie hat von ihrer Reise Bilder mitgebracht, die im Gegensatz zur vorauseilenden medialen Abfeierung der Winterolympiade 2014 stehen, die den Betrachter sonderbar rühren können. Catherine Ludwig fügt scheinbar Unpassendes zusammen, ohne diese Phänomene im Detail klären zu können, und stellt damit Sichtbarkeit her.