Schreibtische (2004–2006)

Desks

In the project Desks, Herbert Stattler documents private and professional workspaces through drawing and photography. The work is based on visits to selected individuals whose desks were recorded and translated into pencil drawings.

Executed from a top-down perspective, the drawings follow a systematic procedure. Every object present on the desk at the time of the visit is transferred precisely onto paper without omission. While color, text, and material textures are excluded, the physical condition of each object remains visible through its outlines and deformations—including folds, dents, bends, or traces of use. The depicted desks belong to individuals from a wide range of professional and social contexts, including the political, corporate, scientific, artistic, and educational fields. The arrangement of objects and the condition of the surfaces were determined entirely by the users themselves.

These pencil drawings form the basis for a multi-stage transformation: first, the depicted objects are reconstructed as highly precise three-dimensional paper models, which are then used to create detailed latex casts. These casts are ultimately photographed under controlled backlighting, reducing the objects to flattened contours. Although photographic in origin, the resulting images visually resemble drawings and continue the project’s focus on spatial organization and material presence.

Although the individuals themselves do not appear, the works record the traces of their daily activity through the arrangement and condition of the objects. Ultimately, it is precisely this absence that reveals the person behind the desk all the more poignantly; the desk surface becomes an indirect portrait, functioning as a topography of the user's mind and a surrogate for their presence.