2015_Highlights King/Kluckner

“Approximately 42 million pieces of luggage are lost each year. Many airlines and airports have the leftover suitcases auctioned off when declared unclaimed after 100 days.”[1]

Two pieces of luggage are bid on by artist duo King/Kluckner and immediately went on a journey with them after purchasing them. The destination is still unknown until then, as well as the contents of the luggage. At the final destination the luggage is opened for the first time.

Countless questions are usually clarified in advance when considering a travel.
What do I want? Where should I go? When? Why? And how?
Questions that can be easily transferred to one’s own life and will never be solved completely, as they always remain dependent on the actual situation and circumstances.

King / Kluckner consciously embark on a journey with a highly increased situational dependency by abandoning any attempt to control, which would result from artistic preconception as well as from planning the journey.

How do decision-making processes work and how much self-determination exists in everyday life?

These are the core questions of this art piece.

The title of the work “Highlights” refers to a special function of the video camera, which was found inside the auctioned luggage. The Highlights function of the video camera takes from each filmed video clip a few seconds, based on an algorithm, and pastes those by “coincidence” chosen sections together. Furthermore, this same function backs the entire clip with a sound, also following the preprogrammed algorithm.

The final art work arises without the possibility of the artists to interfere consciously, underlining once again the concentrated state of situational dependency King/Kluckner exposed themselves during this piece.

This finding of a video camera in the auctioned luggage was also crucial for the further course of action – namely to visit the highlights of Rhodes and to record what had been found in situ.

Thomas Kluckner: http://thomaskluckner.com/

[1] http://mein.salzburg.com/interessen/urlaub_reisen/2008/07/reisegepack-ade-321-versteiger.html