Lennart Deneke

2023; ~30 x 40 x 30cm; ceramic, aluminium, speaker-chassis, amplifier, mp3-player and prints; playing a ~23min soundloop.

a updated version was later shown at „Open Studios 24“.

„We were scaling up the mountain, the weather was cloudy but dry, so we thought we´d just go for it.
It might seem like a dumb idea to most. But that didn´t stop us.
The ascent started very easy, great grippy slopes, not very steep and not all to rocky.
We had to do a little bit of what could be called climbing, but for us it really was not a big deal.
After a while the hill became steeper, but still managable. We reached about a third of the way and had a little break, just sitting on the ground, there were less and less bigger rocks around at this point. The air was getting thinner, but not as bad as some of our past ascents, erwin seemed unaffected actually and i just had to slow down a little.
We still had a few patches of lonely grass under our feet.
The view was already amazing.
Scaling further up the mountain, we left the grass behind. The ground became a dusty, sandy grey. Less steep than before but far more exhausting because the sand, or dust, or debris or whatever we were walking on was very slippery. Every ten steps or so one of us would slip, or our feet would just slide. No more rocks either just fine grey sand.
The last few metres were the hardest. The wind was ripping at us trying to cast us off of the mountain and into the air. The ground was even more slippery, and felt like soot. It was so fine it felt rather soft than coarse on my hands. We had to use our hands, so we wouldn´´t just slip off and go sliding to our doom. Then suddenly there were a few rocks again. Sharp black edges, they cut into our hands, but at least they gave us something to hold on to.
We could feel the heat coming off of the eye. In the middle of all the blackness you could see it glow and move. Mesmeriszing. Then it shook. Erwin fell a good ten feet i only stumbled down enough to lose sight of the hole. A cloud erupted in front of us, and rose up into the air, like a spear.
Towering above me like the mountain before it seemed to feed itself from within, billowing wider and higher ever wider and higher. In seconds the heat drained any water from my skin, my eyes hurting but i couldn´t look away.
Erwin was scrreaming that we need to get off the mountain, but i didn´t believe that it would save us. That cloud came down, engulfed me, layed a layer of dark grey over me and all around me.

All the flags are burning.
In a big pile, on top of the hill.
The smoke could be seen from anywhere
a black flag rising
and the motor is on fire
and the fiberglass is bursting
noone gets out unharmed
noone gets out alive
all the preachers sit
and they try to pray
but can´t remember
and it all seems so senseless now anyway
the smell isn´t as bad.
A lot of good things burned
but they will turn to ash
and it will all turn into the smell of a house on fire eventually
you with your polished metal corset
whirring away in the curner
i can see the blades inside you turning
fast enough to eat up anything
there are no wires i could see
just senseless perfect metal
and a hole in the middle of your chest
for me to reach in
when i hold you in both hands
i can feel the vibrations
i can tell your alive and breathing
in your own rythm
when i see my hands
above the metal blades
save through you
save from you

Everlasting going forward
we speed head first into the streetlight“