It is more important to produce situations that inspire reflection than that my work is treated 'as art' or myself as an artist. If a phenomenon is readily recognised 'as art' it is automatically evaluated under premises linked to this category. These premises may differ from person to person but each viewer has certain expectations, prejudices and prior knowledge that guide and confine the reception of artworks. I try to modify the spontaeous classification of my work 'as art' in several ways. This includes, but is not limited to, referring the viewer back to her/himself as viewer, presenting work in unusual locations, and playing with humorous elements.

My installation Yesterday's Snow was a key experience for me. Occasionally I visited my work, and I listened to the some of the comments made by passers-by. The project was frequently considered the graduation piece of an engineering student or some kind of gimmick. Most of the time, however, it seemed that viewers had difficulties to assign the work to any category. Many of its viewers encountered the deep-frozen snowman unexpectedly in the foyer of the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin and they were not given any hint that what they saw was art. One lady felt reminded of people's urge to have everything available at any time: "like strawberries in December we need snowmen in July now", she uttered. Others made comments about alternative energies or global warming, and one of the university technicians, having observed the snowman's gradually changing shape, was most interested in the air's circulation inside the chilled container. The work inspired very diverse reflections. It may have been the work's irony, absurdity, or location perhaps, but something about the snowman was 'activating' for it's viewers.