Merlin Klein, die eigene Urne, Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, Diplomarbeit

Urn
I usually wear my clothes until they become unwearable.
They become softer, more holey, thinner. The color becomes paler, they get stains and patches.
I feel comfortable in worn clothes. They are so close to me,
I’ve experienced so much in them.
The clothes as a second skin, with signs of time.
They tell stories, evoke memories.
When I feel uncomfortable and seek security, I put on my last old sweater.
All other worn out clothes I have for this piece:
My own urn used, processed.
I discarded more and more old clothes and replaced them with less worn out ones, until I had a repertoire again, so that I didn’t have to wear any of the old clothes anymore.
The idea was: an urn made of the material I want to be buried in.
I burned said clothes to make my urn from the ashes and bone glue.
Along the way, I realized that I own very few clothes.
That the ashes I have received are not enough.
I live in a community with people important and close to me.
They are always around me.
So I asked everyone if they can give old, clothes for my project and idea to me to be part of it.
In the end, I burned enough clothes to build the urn.
The object has a hollow space. The urn cannot be opened or closed.
Since I work with ashes and bone glue in layers and many drying processes, it turned out,
that first my ashes form a shell inside and then the ashes of the friends‘ clothes were applied around the outside.
I like the idea very much.
The ashes that will go into the urn after my cremation will be surrounded by my cremated clothes.
And this layer will be surrounded again by the burned clothes of the people who are important to me now.

A beautiful thought.

The urn has no entrance because I don’t know what will happen. And because I like the thought that the people who are going to bury me will think of something to do with it.
Also, I felt it was interesting to use this intangible space.
Nobody knows what the space looks like. Nobody knows what it’s like to be dead.

Titel: Meine eigene Urne
Material: Asche,Knochenleim
Größe: ca 210mm x 150mmx170mm
Jahr: 2018
Fotografie: Katrin Hermann,Merlin Klein,Karina Hagemann