Marlen Wagner has been working with labyrinths since 2005. In her land art installations in Berlin and on the Baltic Sea, she uses a wide variety of materials. But the labyrinthine forms are also used in texts, photos and videos; they are played with in performances: entangled in the red yarn, walking the lines of the form, dancing.

But the centre of the closed labyrinths always remains empty. Marlen Wagner writes:

The labyrinth – like the riddle – belongs to everyone and no one. It offers space for all interpretations and utilisations – and favours none. In this way it preserves its own enigmaand ultimately refuses to speak clearly of”Yes, yes”, “No, no”. And sometimes even the solution to the riddle holds no salvation. For where understanding and reason sharpen their knives against each other and penetrate with surgical precision, dragging something into the light with cutting clarity, which then freezes in this very light, all that ultimately remains is its withered shell.

The enigmatic offers experiences a chance to develop, to unfold. If there are no wrong paths, then you can go astray laughing. Then it is possible to jump over the walls of supposed dead ends, experience detours as a win and with a feather-light touch marvel joyfully at that something that appears on the side of the road.

If you allow yourself to look at the butterfly on your hand without touching it, you will see how its beauty opens its eyes. But if you grab it to take a closer look, you will be left with nothing but dust on your fingers and a dead body at your feet.

E-Publikation 2018: labyrinth. at center blankness.