Autobahninsel by Rebecca Schwarzmeier
Rebecca Schwarzmeier’s photo work Autobahninsel examines the tension of German rest stops between moments of longing, unfulfillable promises, and the capitalist system to which they are subject. The work poses questions to these transit sites that oscillate between public and private, as well as to the society that produces these places.
It is a bubble at the edge of the highway, an outpouching that is nevertheless subject to the spatial-philosophical regime of the street. Although it seems to be static by its very nature, it is characterized by extreme eccentricity. The pull forward that is so dominantly felt on the road does not let go of the travelers even when they rest. — Florian Werner (translated from the German)
For the first publication of the work Complex Pleasures designed a screen-printed cardboard folder containing 23 photographs and a text leaflet. It functions as an outlook to a publication as a bound book in the future and was released accompanying the artist’s diploma exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg.
The design features GT Pressura, nodding towards classic traffic sign typography, and combines it with the geometric and playful CirrusCumulus by Clara Sambot. With the use of the iconic A glyph and other elements from CirrusCumulus’ font set, the designers create some kind of abstract roadmaps or aerial views of rest stops and highway architecture and thus add a narrative layer in relation to the photographs and the title Autobahninsel (“Highway Island”).
