Matthias Koch

Photographer
   
Todtnauberg the eternal return
Public Project
Todtnauberg the eternal return
Copyright Matthias Koch 2024
Updated Jun 2024
Topics Conceptual, Conflict, Dictatorship, editorial [featured], Essays, Fine Art, Genocide, Holocaust, Oppression, Personal Projects, Photography

Todtnauberg: Heidegger’s hut, not merely a philosophical retreat, but a haven for thoughts that delve deep into the undergrowth of history. Eternal Return! – We see it again and again, don’t we? The same cycles, the same totalitarian temptations: the old game of power mechanisms moving in the shadows, like night butterflies, majestic, in their endless cycles of becoming and passing. And beneath it all? Hidden – the old "Master from Germany," cigar smoker, the Nazi-uniformed grandfather.


The cigar – a symbol, of course! A picture of duality, refinement on the outside, rot on the inside. The elite, watching over culture, while cryptic thoughts rise. Paul Celan knew it well: “a grave in the air” – we’re all building it together. What’s hidden here? A cycle that never ends, a constant relapse into the same entanglements, the same calls for order, for leaders.And the girl portraits, a young defiant figure, like Oskar Matzerath, seeing everything clearly: the splendor and the shame, eyes wide open. Look, see through! But who really sees?Koch shows it to us, in fragments, almost casually: the old cycle of authority, disobedience, rebellion. The hut in Todtnauberg, where thoughts wander among the trees, but dark shadows follow along. What Heidegger once wrote there is not just philosophical musings – it’s something that’s always followed us, in small and large ways. The butterflies keep dancing. The question remains: Can we escape?Family: always family! The grandfather, the “Master from Germany,” that fearsome shadow in the background. You want to get rid of him, but – he’s there. Regimes, ideologies don’t spring out of nowhere; they’re deeply rooted in history, in upbringing, in behavioral patterns passed down like old cigar butts.The past clings to us, and it won’t let go. Koch throws this heritage at our feet, uncomfortable, almost provocative: Can we escape it? Can we break with what was, or are we just walking in circles again and again? It’s not a historical stroll – it’s a cycle, one we all enter. A Celan quote here, an image there, a puff of cigar smoke, and before you know it: repetition.A call – yes, perhaps a warning: Those who refuse to face history, who avert their eyes, are doomed to repeat it.

Todtnauberg — MATTHIAS KOCH
Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken sie abends wir trinken sie mittags und morgens wir trinken sie nachts wir trinken und trinken wir schaufeln ein Grab in den Lüften da liegt man nicht eng Ein Mann wohnt im Haus der spielt mit den Schlangen der...
Matthiaskoch.co
941

Also by Matthias Koch —

Project

Twelve hours or Transit

Matthias Koch
Project

The Hard Decision Of Moving A Family Member To An Alzheimer's Care Home

Matthias Koch / Aubenas
Project

Eschaton

Matthias Koch
Project

Metamorphosis

Matthias Koch
Project

The eternal return

Matthias Koch
Project

Causse Méjean

Matthias Koch / Hures-La-Parade, France
Project

La Lande River

Matthias Koch
Project

Amsterdam or what looks like my Finnegans Wake

Matthias Koch
Project

Resonances

Matthias Koch
Todtnauberg the eternal return by Matthias Koch
Sign-up for
For more access