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Michael H. Rohde

In his unusual composition, Rohde gives space a magical distortion, constant disorientation and detachment. The eye persistently tries to construct a uniform object, and only succeeds in intensifying the independent existence of the subjects pictured. The images are thus inconsistent with the brain’s function, which is to resolve ambiguity and construct a fixed spatial order, interpreting every perceived space as accessible. Rohde’s works reinvent space as a purely aesthetic experience. Consciousness attempts to imagine walking through space like an ant. The artist takes away the surface, threatening to drop even a crawling insect into the abyss. Rohde’s photographs seem to reprogram gravity, since the ground that ordinarily supports a home is replaced by an unending search for orientation as consciousness attempts to keep space in balance. Uwe Goldenstein, 2010