This series can be perceived in two different dimensions; on two separate levels. On the one hand, I am intrigued by all the machinery, all the equipment and paraphernalia that accompany a human being from his first all the way to his last cry. This is the philosophical and the universally human level. On the other hand, I set out to investigate the national identity of the Swiss encoded in these facilities. The isolation of the underlying features of the national character of the Swiss has evolved into one of my strongest motivations in photography in spite of, or maybe because of the fact that I am actually a stranger in this country.
I further pursued this idea in my later work on the civil defence shelters. The cast concrete aesthetics of these subterranean bunkers, their technical perfection and their senselessness epitomize for me the very quintessence of Switzerland.
