christian block
Time Dream Space Aluminum frame, fabric, backlit 147 x 260 cm / 57.9 x 102.3 in - 2020
Scanning T Dibondboard, Latex print 155 x 270 cm / 61.1 x 106.3 in - 2021
GEnx Dibondboard, photo paper, pigment print, uv filter, matt 141 x 210 cm / 55.5 x 8.7 in - 2020
Levitate
As a pilot I fly around the world, all continents, over and past almost all mountains on this planet. I process my experiences in large-format photography. My creation of my works starts in and outside the dynamic high-tech environment of the cockpit.
The display of vital gauges and many switches is a result of ergonomics, our perceptiveness, and our capacity to process information. The resulting aesthetics are clear and uncompromising. Without this technology, flying in clouds or darkness is not possible. From the interpretation of numbers and displays we generate a synthetic, three-dimensional image into which we fly real, with 450 tons of weight and high speed.
Nature and technology release my motifs from their world and I take it and create my world as I want it. In dreams we find ourselves unable to breathe, unable to move a finger, weighing tons, in a maelstrom of experiences, unable to act. But we also find ourselves under water, unable to breathe without distress, weightless, floating, able to fly, free of burden.
Runway 25 L in Hong Kong, is about 4 kilometers long and studded with lights. The lights of the center line have a distance of 15 meters, those of the sides 60. In weather conditions where fog rolls across the runway, the lights are projected symmetrically into the layer of fog above. Combined with the powerful spotlights in the wings of the aircraft, this creates a tunnel into which we are literally sucked in, accelerating faster and faster. Up to the takeoff abort speed, the aircraft, with remaining runway can still be brought to a safe stop, beyond that the takeoff can no longer be aborted:
WE WILL FLY.
The texture of the fog seemingly impenetrable but also like gauze, transparent, disconnects us from the outside world. In a dream, a whole life is told in one second. In reality, about 80 seconds after the start of the take off, we are carried out of the picture on the air, a short time later penetrate the mostly flat layer of fog and rise into the morning sky. The depth of the image is about 3800 meters from the beginning of the runway and seems infinite. Somewhere in between, the dreams take off, at different speeds, with different destinations. Up to a moment, the decision to stop is up to each one of us. Beyond that we can take in the dream, consciously no more influence, in the airplane we are in the air.
The journey begins. Experiences, wishes, dreams are the guides in our subconscious and the program is not controlled by us. We steer the airplane to another continent.
WE FLY!
- Christian Block
To collect Christian block photography artworks, please send us an email collectart.eso.bdr@gmail.com
Small Prints available for sale can be found here
< PRESS / reviews >
Himalayan
The power of the mountains is clear to me. Coming from Hong Kong with destination Europe, we turn north just before the mountain range between the “Miau Miau“ and the „Four Girls“, a sacred mountain range. I flew this route many times, only rarely was the view clear, although we are only 200 kilometers away from it. The big thunderclouds, which caused fear and terror the night before, collapse in the first sunlight, reddish in color, giving a clear view of the distant mountain range behind. It is always different. The time of day and the season of the year always paint the picture anew.
I don‘t know why but even in weather conditions with no view of the mountains, just the knowledge, hidden behind that curtain, there they are, generates an exciting expectation. It is always different. It may be the perception, it may be the representation or both. Looking detachedly over the world has a multi-layered choreography.
Dibond board . baryta paper . pigment print 159 x 270 cm / 62.6 x 106.3 in - 2021
What is behind
To monitor the flight, the important information about the technical condition of the aircraft, the position in the air and navigation are distributed on the corresponding screens.
The PFD, Primary Flight Display shows five instruments, the altimeter, speed indicator, compass, vertical speed and centrally in it the artificial horizon.
The data is displayed in graphical, column of numbers or synoptic and from these sources we generate a three-dimensional image.
The representation of the systems and flight attitude has in itself its own aesthetics. These constantly changing sculptures, we fly around very respectfully, in cooperation with the responsible radar station of the region. Each of these ambivalent beauties is unique. Their characteristics and aesthetics resemble each other, they could be siblings, and yet each has its own expansive personality.
Dibond board . photo paper . pigment print . uv filter. matt 151 x 270 cm / 59.8 x 106.3 in - 2021
Sumo Wrestler
The vertical dimensions of a Cumolo Nimbo, a thundercloud can be well over ten kilometers. The weight is many millions of tons of water plus a lot of electrical energy. The formation process is pure physics, the inner life extremely violent. Ice balls the size of soccer balls race upward at 100 meters per second and downward right next to them. On the weather radar, these giants are shown already very far away. Isolated piled up clouds we see already from great distance, illuminated by the sun and at night with impressive fireworks of electrical discharges.
These constantly changing sculptures, we fly around very respectfully, in cooperation with the responsible radar station of the region. Each of these ambivalent beauties is unique. Their characteristics and aesthetics resemble each other, they could be siblings, and yet each has its own expansive personality.
Dibond board . Latex print 141 cm x 210 cm / 55.5 x 82.7 in - 2011
Scanning T
The main part of the control of the aircraft during a long-haul flight is taken over by the autopilot and it does the job very well.
Nevertheless, systems and flight progress are continuously monitored by us. The five main screens for this purpose are the PFD Primary Flight Display, ND Navigation Display, EICAS Engine Parameters Display, System Warnings, System Notes. FMC Flight Management Computer.
Our scan of the instruments and displays runs continuously. Around our seating position, all monitors are located further away from the direct field of view, following the importance.
Dibond board . Latex print 155 x 270 cm / 61.1 x 106.3 in - 2021
GEnx
The fan of the Genx 747-8 engines has a diameter of 2.67m. The four of these engines accelerate the aircraft weighing up to 450 tons to the take-off speed of up to 320km/h.
The power is gigantic.
Dibond board . photo paper . pigment print . uv filter . matt
141 x 210 cm / 55.5 x 82.7 in - 2020
Time Dream Space
Aluminum frame . fabric . backlit 147 x 260 cm / 57.9 x 102.3 in - 2020