Images of power
We see details – isolated instances of real signatures. They are the signatures that have shaped our present-day world. Behind them are figures who have defined the lives – and headlines – of our generation. From Trump to Merkel, Viktor Orbán to Xi Jinping, the signatures of the mighty serve as vessels for concrete ideas. These are people we feel we know, presented in a way we’ve never encountered before. We’re familiar with their faces, but here, the physiognomy of their hand movements sheds light on their actions, decisions, styles, and convictions. It’s heads of state creating lines… “Head Lines”. And just as the head sits atop the body, so too do these figures rest upon the pinnacle of power.
The art project “Head Lines” has been presented in a number of international exhibitions. But a book is more than an exhibition. Its subject is not the artwork alone, but also the perception thereof. In this sense, le pouvoir is a platform for both the images themselves and the thoughts they provoke; a platform for highly acclaimed essayists like Norbert Lammert, Pascal Dethurens, Barbara Hess, Wolfgang Ullrich, Nicola Kuhn, and Jean-Yves Bainier to share their ideas.