SIX FEET UNDER: Afterlife

Death may be seen as the absolute end of the physical existence of a human being, but it could also be a transitory condition to another life form that could be called: resurrection, immortality, transmigration of souls, extended digital life etc. Then there are all kinds of alternatives, individual concepts of paradise, the postulated world of the undead and those who return from the dead, as well as concepts that integrate life and death in cycles (for instance, the further life of the dead in genetic make-up) thereby lending death a legitimacy.

Olaf Breuning allows the “beyond” to enter by populating a music studio with dozens of marionette-like standing and sitting skeletons all “looking” straight at the viewer. Are we dealing with the resurrected, as in the Allerseelenaltar? In contrast to those figures, these are all completely inactive: they are merely posing for the photographer.