2024 ghostly ships on the wind

The series ‘ghostly ships on the wind’ consists of 15 paintings that have never been realised in such a technical form before. The difficulty of the artistic concept lies in the symbiosis of the depiction of a technical drawing from the early 20th century and contemporary painting. The creation of the work builds a bridge between technical precision and artistic impulsiveness. Thus a new form of visual perception can be established.

As a member of a traditional sailing club on Berlin’s Wannsee, I discovered in its art collection ship plans and construction drawings of sailing yachts designed between 1900 and 1911 by the renowned German yacht designer Max Oertz (1871-1929) and some by Otto Protzen (1868-1925). Oertz had a signi- ficant impact on German yacht building at the be- ginning of the 20th century. Many of the yachts like Sonderklasse, Nationale Kreuzer and racing yachts were developed by him. Reference is made to the designs commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II and others. The sensual impression of the parchments and blueprints, the clear lines on them and the notes on the structural realisation of the drawings are fascinating.

The artistic design in the present day combines the mathematical abstractions of Max Oertz and Otto Protzen with abstract motifs of Lake Wannsee as seen from the water. The precise lines offer the pos- sibility of transforming engineering – in this case the building of ships – into a completely new context. This requires a sound knowledge of the structure of a construction drawing in order to fully understand the functioning of a sailing ship. By examining the ship’s outlines, the historical construction process returns to the collective memory and is thus kept alive and preserved for future generations.As not all of the designs were realised, this series of works is called ‘ghostly ships on the wind’. In these works the ideas of the two shipbuilders revive. In fact, the yachts are launched, also those which were never built.