Amine Haase
Indeed, it is a mistake
that somehow the dead are dead.

„Indeed, it is a mistake that somehow the dead are dead.“ The sentence of Alexander Kluge’s Die Patriotin is like a leitmotif through the works of Markus Döhne. This sentence – both affirmative and irritating – applies so precisely to the work that could be seen at the artothek in October / November 1998 that we leave the exhibition space, [...] in such confusion that also keeps our thinking in motion. [...]

Because nothing is quite what it seems to be the Cologne-based artist sharpens our view of what we are shown as a reality – in the documentation of all our history books and newspapers. The reproduced picture of the work in the artothek is only after long attempts of decipherment decodeable. The motive is a white carnation on a grave stone. That seems to lay itself like a snow flake onto our memory.

The collective memory seems to petrify under the burden of proof of the documentated testimonies. Art can save us from stagnation. Markus Döhne succeeds with gentle pressure, which is no more serious than frozen tears.
Translated from German by Gisela Pauli Caldas

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