Michaela Putz | Nothing happens

The installation creates a waiting situation - an endless loop of non-occurring events. Two video projections of empty waiting rooms create a spatial situation that is mirrored by the same furniture in the room. The expectation of an event in the video is not fulfilled: the waiting rooms remain empty, no actors enter the stage. This situation is also recreated in the book with the same recordings, accompanied by texts, findings and research results on waiting, generated by interviews, interviews and observations.

There is an urgency in waiting, especially in the medical context. Fear, anxiety and inconvenience make waiting worse, especially when patients feel unfairly treated or cannot understand why someone else is called before them. Waiting means that a future event is expected and since there are no other activities in the meantime, the time spent in this way is empty. So the waiting time can feel like an eternity - there is no end in sight. The self cannot use the time spent, since it is fixed to the future event. A feeling of dependence and external determinateness arises. Waiting without self-reflection means the dissolution of the self, while waiting with self-reflection becomes aware of the dissolution. This awareness refers to the awareness of one's own finiteness. Thus the time spent waiting is perceived as scandalous under these conditions. That is why waiting, especially at the doctor or in the hospital, always has something existential.

Nothing happens, Installation view, Michaela Putz 2015

Nothing happens, Installation view and artist book, Michaela Putz 2015