“Zero Zero–System 605 is Down” refers to the narrative of a concept album by British musician Mike Batt that was released in the early 1980s and became my favorite at that time. “Zero Zero” (the name of the album) tells the story of a dystopian future society from which all emotions have been banished, in which human feelings are to be reduced to nothing (“zero”). If feelings do arise, the people concerned are sent to an emotional decontamination facility called “Zero Zero,” a place where emotions are lobotomized so that people can once again conform to the emotionless standards. After  this music had been absent from my life for more than forty years before finding its way back into my ears, I took this as an opportunity to bring the story to a pictorial conclusion. System 605, a world that is primarily depicted (in the music videos) in small checkered black-and-white patterns, is depopulated, and nature is reclaiming what was taken from it. The work shows Zero Zero already partially covered by vegetation, and even in the black-and-white patterned floor, the first plants are breaking through.

Floor and wall are made from a modified screenshot of a scene from a Zero Zero video clip, while the vegetation is a freely accessible photo from the worldwide web, which has also been adapted to fit the overall composition.