I have built a model of a conventional, contemporary petrol station, scaled and detailed but lacking both colour and text. It is grey. The installation was positioned at eye-level and includes fragments of the surrounding landscape. The remainder of the landscape, including a highway with approach and exit roads was positioned in an adjacent room, inaccessible to the viewer and thus obstructing a complete overview of the piece. The room was completely black except for the blue tones from the spotlights directed on the model itself. The viewers were able to see into the empty, white shop whilst the neon-signs shone without message. In this work I perceived the petrol station as a symbol of safety and security. As I journey the long and lonely highways at night they pop up with their familiar and welcoming signs: “Open 24hrs”.

I make an exit into yet another road seemingly the same distance, again and again, endless mile after mile. I turn off the highway and immediately light and colour greet me, maybe I can exchange a word over a cup of coffee on a rainy night, a thread of human presence in a desolate infrastructure. In removing the colour and allowing the shop to stand without content I replace the promise of company with that of even greater isolation.The sound for the piece was designed by FLOW, Martin Dümmatzen