I survive myself - Silas Hollenbeq

The Self Outlives Itself

On a plain canvas, the German word “ICH” (meaning “self” or “I”) appears in reversed script, stripped of any additional visual elements. Yet it is precisely this reduction that gives the work its power: it compels the viewer to confront the impossibility of the self outliving itself – while simultaneously questioning the very construction of this “self.” Silas Hollenbeq’s The Self Outlives Itself is a minimalist yet profound meditation on the limits of identity, time, and existence.

Title of the work:

The Self Outlives Itself 08

format:

150 x 100 cm

Artists:

Silas Hollenbeq

INITIALIMPULS | Year:

2018

BACKGROUND

The "I" beyond itself

The mirror-inverted representation of the word "I" refers directly to the tension between the internal and external perspective. It is there, visible, and yet it eludes immediate legibility. Hollenbeq challenges the viewer not only to look at their own identity, but to understand it as a reflexive process: The "I" is always a reflection, always an image seen from a distance - never quite tangible, never complete. In this mirror image, the illusion of a fixed "I" is broken. The viewer is confronted with the realization that the self is never a stable, self-contained whole, but always exists in relation to an "other" - be it the view from outside, the memory of the past or the projection into the future.

The impossibility of surviving oneself

The title Ich überlebt sich (The Self Outlives Itself) contains a paradoxical and existential truth: no one can survive themselves, as the "I" is inextricably linked to physical existence. However, Hollenbeq's mirror-inverted writing also suggests that the "I" is a construct that can have an effect beyond the physical moment - as a memory, as a narrative, as a projection. The mirroring refers to the distance that exists between the "I" and the surviving image. The surviving "I" is never the same as the original, but a distorted, reflected version, shaped by the gaze of others and the construction of time. In this reversal, it becomes clear that even if something of the "I" remains, it is no longer the same "I" that it once was.

Hollenbeq leads the viewer into a double reflection: on survival as a concept and on the "I" as an idea. The mirror-inverted representation forces us to reverse our thinking - to look at the self from the outside, from the end, or even from an imaginary point beyond our own existence: the "I" as a concept: what does it mean to survive the "I"? In Hollenbeq's depiction, all that remains is an empty, mirror-inverted word - a symbol of the fragility and fleetingness of the self. The act of reflection: the viewer recognizes that the survival of the "I" is ultimately a process of interpretation. What remains is not the "I" itself, but the reflection on it, the memory of it, the attempt to grasp it.

MINIMALISM AS DEPTH

As in many of Hollenbeq's works, the provocation in Ich überlebt lies in its radical simplicity. The work is reduced to the essentials: a word, a mirror image, a reflection. Yet this simplicity reveals a complex question that touches the core of human existence. The emptiness of the canvas becomes a projection surface for the thoughts of the viewer, who is forced to question the boundary between self and image.

With Ich überlebt sich, Hollenbeq deconstructs the illusion of identity and survival. The work shows that the "I" is never complete, but always a reflection, a projection, a fragmented self. It reminds us that the survival of the "I" is never literal, but always metaphorical - and that this survival is both a reversal and a distortion.

Hollenbeq's work forces the viewer to come to terms with the finiteness of the self, while at the same time opening up the possibility of viewing the "I" as something that points beyond itself - not as a whole, but as a fragment, a trace, a mirror image. In this way, I Survives becomes a meditation on what remains when the self is no more.

In an era in which identity is increasingly fragmented and defined by external reflections (e.g. social media, digital avatars), Ich überlebt sich hits a nerve. It addresses the alienation of modern man and invites us to think about the "I" beyond the surfaces - a topic that is particularly relevant and yet rarely dealt with in this concentrated form.

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