Kathrin Schlegel is a German installation and visual artist creating research-based, site-specific, and conceptual works exhibited internationally. Her projects explore spatial perception, human experience, and site-specific narratives.
   Kathrin Schlegel
Ein Seefahrer und ein Kettenraucher spielen eine Kerzenlange Schiffeversenken
2010, performance at Künstlerhaus Schloss Plüschow, Mecklenburg, Germany, May 22, 2010. Video of a performance, enacted by actual local residents: Captain Gerhard Zamzow (33 years at sea, 20 years as captain), and Kurt Lohmann. Duration of the performance: the time it takes a candle to burn down to its end, which is approximately 187’00’’. Video (6’40’’, HD 1080), c-print on aluminium (90 cm x 145 cm).

A Sailor and a Chainsmoker Playing Battleship whilst a Candle Burns Down to its End is the result of an artistic investigation of the socio-cultural contexts of a dwindling Baltic marine region in former East Germany. The title of the work refers to the superstition that every time a cigarette is lit with a candle, a sailor dies. A local seaman and a chain-smoker are the two participants of the performance. The act consists of the men playing a game of Battleship at a small table for the time it took the candle between them to burn down to its end.


Filmstills and references

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Ein Seefahrer und ein Kettenraucher spielen eine Kerzenlänge Schiffeversenken

Updated 05.01.26