2006 

published by Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld

In the videos, photographs and installations by the artist Elmar Hess, private conflicts are determined by the impact of technology or systemic structures. Individual events are related to an imaginary cascade of historical and political events. In his project, "Freedom is not for free", a lover´s conflict ends in front of a war crimes tribunal; the free decisions of the heart have mutated into punishable offences. Behind the individual drama, the work describes a picture of society in which the fulfilment of human wishes is prevented by restrictions imposed by the system, media manipulation and lobbyists.