Annex

A parallel Universe, 2005

Annex (representative selection) 2003-09

... The Universe and the Annex represent complementary bodies, which at the same time can be considered independent units. In this regard Brey draws parallels from comparable examples in literature. For example, the Italian writer Umberto Eco added an essay as a postscript to his famous novel The Name of the Rose. Just like the Universe and the Annex, they can be read independently of each other but together they generate extra mutual meaning. Whereas the Universe provides a detailed description of an imaginary parallel universe, the Annex goes into the exemplary theme of flight. The constituent parts of this “supplement” vary more strongly among each other in terms of format, and unlike in the Universe they carry predominantly scientific texts about nature. The Annex shows chiefly birds, but there are also sections dedicated to dragonflies and angels. For Brey there is nothing mechanical or technological about flight. There are no references to airplanes; in one group of drawings he even has birds consciously pass over industrial areas. Completely in line with his previous work, flying is for Brey a mythic activity that is bound up with migration and existential questions about freedom and our origins....