– Julian Palacz

pigment print on paper, 140×80cm, 2014-2018

Without pressure, without his subjects noticing, Julian Palacz lets people draw for him. Their movements become his lines. No other harm happens to them except the immediate access to themselves – method and subject merge. Surveillance as a process becomes superficially visible through its anonymous subjects. But in this way its invisible dynamics also become clear: no one escapes. No one is asked. No one has the opportunity to object. When Palacz talks about the calculation of vectors, he emphasizes the error-proneness of his method of working: If the path of two people crosses, the line of one can be drawn further in the direction in which the other has gone. The expected, the calculated behavior, the one that is beautiful to look at in print, is decisive. The deviating decision of an individual is calmly corrected. At first glance, the ultra-fine pigment print suggests that threads are laid on a white background: the net is an obvious – but no less striking trope for discrete work and lurking threats.

Text by Benjamin Kaufmann