Markus Oberndorfer
Je les vois, 2013
Serie: Se Souvenir
Cap Ferret 2013
© Markus Oberndorfer, Bildrecht
The wide horizon. Something juts out between sand and sea—a rock, perhaps the petrified remains of a deep-sea creature stranded ashore. These are bunkers of the Atlantic Wall, which through the lens of artist Markus Oberndorfer appear like fossils from another world. For over 20 years, he has documented these ever-changing relics of World War II at the same site: Cap Ferret. His work explores history, memory, and their appropriation.
In 2013, with his installation Se Souvenir, Oberndorfer created a direct link to this past: 160 posters pasted onto the bunker walls showed the full transcript of his interview with eyewitness Henri Lavrillat, who was forced to build the bunkers on site in 1941, commemorating Lavrillat’s experiences.
(Text: Markus Oberndorfer)
Markus Oberndorfer was born in 1980 in Ohlsdorf near Gmunden, Austria. He lives and works in Vienna. Oberndorfer studied art and photography at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He was an artist-in-residence at Cité des Arts, Paris, and won the 2013 European Design Award Gold of Talentförderung OÖ. His works have been shown in international solo and group exhibitions.