Erdflug, Wasserturm Geldern (2023)

The world of Klaus Boegel's ‘Birdman’ on the 1st floor offers access to the tower's interior. The entrance marked with feathers on the threshold of the top landing leads into a darkened room, which is only sparsely lit by a light bulb and dominated by an oversized egg placed in the centre. Large-format self-portraits show poetic metamorphoses of this figure. The dim artificial light in the room intensifies the spiritual aura of this being, the lord of the skies, who has found his habitat in the tower below, in a down-to-earth environment.
This installation serves as an introduction and preparation for the performance on the 2nd floor, in which another form of existence of the ‘Birdman’ meets Kaaren Beckhof's abstract figure of the ‘Water Tower’. There, lying on his stomach with his naked upper body, like the Greek Icarus, a large, heavy cocoon floats above him, which slowly begins to move. The artist's hands and feet become visible, and she lets herself glide down headfirst, grasps a bowl filled with the finest stone dust and draws a labyrinthine ornament on the artist's back, withdraws back into her cocoon, only to stretch out like wings the next time she glides out and finally, in rapid rotational movements, scatters a circle around him.
(Beate Schindler)