SOMA Magazine May 2012 : Page 23
Still, Hinrichsen’s work extends beyond environmental interventions; the artist also confronts urban settings and their sociological narratives. She interviews residents, mapping their histories with ethnographic detail and intertwines her research with imagery sourced from both past and present. The resulting installations often combine large-scale video projec-tions with audio and sculptural elements, creating multi-media environments that seek to translate the hidden identities of collective spaces. In one such project, entitled “Bridging” (2005), Hinrichsen spent four months recording images of pedestrians crossing the Mária Valéria Bridge, which connects Hungary and Slovakia across the Danube River. The bridge dates back to 1895, but was destroyed during World War II and only fully-restored in 2001, when the Danube was established as the new geographic border between the two countries, despite the two towns on either side of the bridge both being Hungarian before the war. Due to the political situation, communication between citizens on either side of the bridge was repressed, creating isolation where there had once been community. Hinrichsen interviewed residents of both towns, archiving their memories of the years before the war, during the separation and following the restoration of the bridge, which were projected as text among slides of the bridge as it stands today, a function-ing conduit between formerly divided people, who share a common past. All of Hinrichsen’s works, whether land art or urban stud-ies, employ community outreach and education. Her artistic practice is exceptionally non-commercial—a romantic, even altruistic ideal of what an artist should be—that in today’s commodity-driven and profit-obsessed times few artists actu-ally are. Hinrichsen creates work that is both informative and mystifying, methodical and magical. She writes that, “I am not interested in creating lasting art pieces, as I believe that our world is over-saturated with man-made products.” She would rather “inspire appreciation and awe for our natu-ral world.” Like the Native American tribes whose customs fascinate her, Hinrichsen orchestrates a symbolic relationship between the beauty of nature and the evolution of humanity. Her art speaks of the transience that defines our everyday lives, but rejoices in the wonders of the universe that transcend our earthly existence. 23
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