Louisa Frauenheim’s works lie at the intersection of sculpture, installation, performance, and video, and explore states of vulnerability, healing, and resistance. In her artistic practice, she examines physicality as a site of power relations, as well as the social construction of femininity and motherhood. Furthermore, she explores the interplay between her own biographical memories and collective cultures of memory, often through objects and practices that convey history and stories and make social attributions visible. 

Frauenheim’s works have been presented in solo exhibitions at venues including Galerie Mathias Güntner (Hamburg/Berlin), Kunstverein Gastgarten, and the Institut für Alles Mögliche (Berlin); In addition, she has participated in group exhibitions in renowned Berlin and national art contexts, including at the Salon am Moritzplatz, as part of the UdK Art Award, at 48h Neukölln, at the Roberta Keil Gallery in Vienna, and at the Kunstverein Ebersberg. 

Work Title: Boden

Louisa Frauenheim transforms a space on the ground floor of the building—which formerly served as a covered bus stop—into a compelling sound-floor installation. Within this specific architectural setting, an acoustic scenario unfolds that evokes both the history of the site and its current transformation.

Five to seven megaphones are installed in the space and, at regular intervals, reproduce the sounds of jackhammers, such as those used in coal mining. For one to two minutes, the space is filled with a vibrating, aggressive roar that physically engulfs visitors. This is followed by a phase of absolute silence. This abrupt shift between noise and silence structures the installation and becomes a rhythmic experience of labor, upheaval, standstill, and reflection. The sound of the jackhammer symbolizes the pursuit of progress and growth, but at the same time also represents destruction, intervention, and the force with which nature and history are shaped. The physical experience of loudness and silence creates a field of tension that raises central questions: When does productive activity tip over into destructive violence? When does the desire for development become overwhelming?

Furthermore, the work opens up a biographical dimension. Here, “digging” can also be read as a metaphor for memory. As a process that uncovers both personal and collective layers hidden in the soil of the past. The guiding question, “On what ground do we actually stand?” invites us to reexamine our origins, identity, and responsibility and to critically question our own position within the fabric of history and the present.