Fabian Knecht – Fred spuckt in den Pazifik

The images Fabian Knecht presents in his work Fred spuckt in den Pazifik are prosaic as well as moving: In a hospice in Berlin, Knecht lets the terminally ill Fred spit into a glass in order to empty it again 16 days later over the Pacific. 

Between these actions, the artist undertakes a laborious journey: by train from the West through Russia to Vladivostok, and from there by ferry to Japan. The experience is filled with sadness and heaviness but is uplifting at the same time. Because the small intervention in another person’s life and the gesture linked with it, become a pilgrimage for the artist, an act of sacrifice. The chosen slides are a condensation of the emotional gesture, of this minimal intervention in the world.

PCH