DAS KINO DES LEBENS 

The Cinema of Life

2026​​​​​

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Kunsthaus, Essen, Germany
Artist residency in Essen with Diaphane and the Franco-German Cultural Centre of the City of Essen.

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In June 2026, I travelled to Germany to photograph the city of Essen as part of a two-week artistic residency organised through a Franco-German collaboration between Diaphane, a photography centre, and the Franco-German Cultural Centre of the City of Essen.

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As a stranger in this city, I had very little time to create a portrait that felt true to the place. This fragile position forced me to look at it differently.

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As it happens, I don't speak German. During this trip, I found myself thinking back to a crucial choice at school, when I selected Spanish against my German-speaking mother's wishes. Throughout my stay, this language I could not understand became the soundtrack to my wanderings. Unable to understand what people were saying to one another, I was left to observe their bodies, movements, glances, silences, places and atmospheres, searching for clues to what was unfolding beneath the surface.

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My artistic practice brings together two mediums I hold dear: photography and film. This project was therefore built around a clear, repetitive protocol, conceived before the journey began.

The film was intended to accompany my movements through the city and capture its flows. Through static, continuous shots, it would observe what a still image sometimes fails to convey: duration, movement, transitions and waiting.

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Photography, meanwhile, would linger on Essen's many cinemas and the people who visit them: those waiting for a screening, watching a screen or sharing the same space.

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Only sound was missing. This language I could not understand was one I needed to record. I therefore interviewed residents of Essen at the Lichtburg, the city's most majestic cinema, where Wim Wenders holds his premieres. I combined these conversations with the sounds of the city: the noises that intrigued me and caught my attention during my early-morning and late-night walks.

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Das Kino des Lebens is a visual and sonic postcard sent from Essen. Not a postcard seeking to showcase a city's monuments or iconic landmarks, but one made of fragments: faces, voices, streets, sounds, movements, moments of waiting, objects, lights and snippets of life.

Ultimately, I came to Essen to go to the cinema, and I left with a film about the city.

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EDITING Axel Janaud
MUSIC Hajo Wiesemann
CAST Clara Hecht and the people of Essen
PARTNERS Leica and Initial Labo