In a state of insecurity, mechanized control instruments gain particular significance. The surveillance and inspection of data is fully automated and emits alarm signals, upon which the human being has to make a decision. Everybody is happy when the device fulfills its purpose and sends warning signals when the need arises. The belief in the machine and its logical gearing mechanism stems from the idea that the human being itself is a machine. Fritz Franz Vogel

When I entered the large, dark room of the neonathology for the first time in the middle of the night, I had to pause briefly and ask the doctor to give me a moment to allow the serenity of this place to take effect for a moment. It was odd; I felt a sense of confidence and security, no trace anymore of fear. The question “If not here, where then?” flashed through my mind. Everywhere there were blinking lights and the hum of individual beeping sounds. A small group of newborn children was sleeping here.

Over a period of 5 years I photographed Lifesaving Machines and objects associated to this taboo topic. I discovered apparatuses, which as prototypes were still at the beginning of their development, individual modules of complex machines on production lines, open devices in a process of maintenance: dialysis machines, respirators, artificial hearts, heart-lung apparatuses, cardiac pacemakers, intrathecal pain pumps, coronary stents, and other devices.

Seeing a man’s open chest cavity with the beating heart inside it undermined both my personal conviction and legitimization to create a photographic work here, the objective of which was still totally unclear at the outset. I thus continued my search in the production facilities and laboratories of manufacturers of intensive care apparatuses—far away from the sites of their employment. 

The result is a collection describing the big theme of man and machine and the will of human beings to find strategies to develop and survive.

“WILL” has been published as as book with lafabrica.