Clemens Wilhelm’s art really does come a long way. Especially his newest photo-installations Der Weg nach Venedig (The Road to Venice) and The Meaning of Life. For the first installation the artist hiked all the way from Munich to the Venice Biennale, taking a photo every 15 minutes for the whole of his journey. Thus he created a very beautiful and impressive documentation of this voyage, which brings Goethe’s Italian Voyage to mind. One might argue that Wilhelm’s journey is far from being romantic, especially considering some photos just seem very banal. Others by comparison seem very romantic, especially the ones taken while crossing the Alps. Wilhelm’s work portrays on the one hand that the romantic idea of the Italian voyage was probably always less romantic than the romanticists painted their experiences, and on the other hand that even in the year 2009 this journey is still possible and beautiful. But of course the fact that Wilhelm’s travels are accessible for the observer via projector and screen gives the project a whole new twist, considering the connections between art and life, creation and consumption, reality and fiction.

His second installation The Meaning of Life also breaks down barriers between different countries – this time between China, Germany and the U.S. The artist found 101 voluntary participants in each country that were asked to answer one simple question: What is the meaning of life? They then wrote their answer on a piece of paper and a photo was taken. Sounds simple, but the result shows some very surprising and, especially in the case of the Chinese participants, occasionally disturbing answers. If you were ever wondering how the mindsets of different nations work, then this installation definitely is a step towards a possible answer.

The other two displaying artists, Iris Musolf and Constantin Hartenstein, also deal with the topic of crossing borders. For her video installation In Their Own Style, Musolf traveled to China and went to several big clothing stores where all the female workers wore the same clothes: not a proper uniform, but some “hip” outfit that the company would deem appropriate for their corporate image and that would, of course, also be available in the stores as part of the newest collection. In these stores she would then, with the help of the employees, put on the same outfit that the women in the shops wore. Musolf managed to create a funny yet disarming portrait of a consumption-oriented society and its many bizarre faces.

Hartenstein’s installation Go West also displays a lot of basic commodities, but touches on a whole different subject. In the middle of the room the observer finds a big pile of things that can be found in every household, while a voice enumerates all of the objects  being displayed. The voice reading from this list is the artist’s mother, the things on display, most of them still the originals, are what his family could bring along while making its escape from the former East Germany over to the West. How hard the reading of this list must have been to the artist’s mother can only be guessed, but considering how personal and touching this piece already is to the observer, it must have been an incredibly intense experience for her to remember all of these objects and their hidden family meaning. By displaying the art of these three artists the Freies Museum Berlin has created a unique and impressive exhibition that is worth more than just one visit.