siegerurkunden.

If you are or were a pupil in Germany, you know the Bundesjugendspiele (Federal Youth Games) and certainly you hate them. It's every year the same old shit since the 1950s.

My father took part in the competitions in the 1960s and won in 1964 and 1966 in the Dreikampf (three-way battle) Siegerurkunden (winner's certificates).
Here the scan of his 1964 winner's certificate:

30 years later I also took part in the Bundesjugendspiele and won in the years 1994, 1996 and 1997 in the Leichtathletik / Dreikampf (Athletics / three-way battle) winner's certificates.
Here the scan of my 1994 winner's certificate:

  
Today I've printed on the 1966 and the 1996 winner's certificates two pictures to test whether it is worthwhile to use the paper for palimpsests.

"dreikampf 1966", brasil, 2013

"leichtathletik 1996", brasil, 2013

I think that the winner's certificates are perfect for palimpsests!
I'll use the other three winner's certificates (1964, 1994 and 1997) for a triptych, but I still not know which pictures I'll print on them.

dez...veinte...

"dez cruzados", brasil, 2013

"veinte pesos", brasil, 2013

Here the Making-of...

it's complicated!

It's really complicated to print on bank notes, because you have to choose the right photo. The best is a black and white photo with a clear structure, but this is no guarantee for a good palimpsest.
The most complicated is that the structure, the pattern, the colors of the money fit to the structure of the photo, if not the entire palimpsest looks confused.
But of course, to make a palimpsest isn't an exact science with norms. You can calculate many things ahead, but how the end product really will be, is often in the stars. It's really learning by doing and learning from errors. But this is art!

I made some palimpsests with bank notes. The majority of them are really good, but two of them weren't good.
Therefore I've decided to scrape off the ink, so that I can use them once more. Yes, the definition of a palimpsest is exactly this what I did now. But it didn't work. Then I thought that I can use the other side of the bank notes, the side, which stuck to the paper, which I've used for the bank note collage. And this plan worked good.
Of course, rests of the paper remain on the bank notes, but I like this.
Now I've made three new bank note collages. Two in the size 20x30cm and the other one in the size 14x17,5cm.

I already had an idea which photo I'll use for the small one. This:

"eos vs. eos", brasil, 2009

But as I had already described, to make a palimpsest, particularly on bank notes, isn't always crowned with success.

"A021 do brasil", brasil, 2013

Here the other two palimpsests...

more palimpsests...

"mapa da itinerância tourneeplan", brasil, 2013

"data de devolução", brasil, 2013

"tesla waves", brasil, 2013

"o fein!", brasil, 2013
_palimpsest on wood

some new palimpsests...

Just some new stuff:

"die tänzerin und das zweite gesicht", brasil, 2013

"sie stirbt", brasil, 2013

"via air mail", brasil, 2013

"charge it!", brasil, 2013

"on steel", brasil, 2013
_mini palimpsest on steel

"strom", brasil, 2012

"in der welt da draussen", brasil, 2013

mini palimpsest on DIY-paper _part 2

Today I made a new mini palimpsest on DIY-paper triptych, which I call "the walking past".
It has this name, because I've used three black&white photos, which I made in Germany in 2005.

The first picture I shot with my Nikon TW Zoom 35-80 on Ilford Delta 100 film in Hannover.
The second photo is a self portrait, which I shot with my Canon T50 and the Canon 1.8/50mm lens on Ilford FP4+ 125 film in Leipzig.
And the last one I shot with my Porst Compact Reflex S and the Porst MC 1.7/50mm lens on Kodak BW400CN in Hannover.

"the walking past #1", brasil, 2013

"the walking past #2", brasil, 2013

"the walking past #3", brasil, 2013

Here the work in a window frame.

mini palimpsest on DIY-paper

"schlittenfahrt", brasil, 2012

In November 2012 I made this work with a mini palimpsest in the size of 6 x 9,5 cm, which is fixed on one of the DIY-paper sheets, which I made at the same time.

Now I'm making a triptych with the title "Licht - Moon - They came from inner space".
Just the three mini palimpsests are missing...

And here the masterplan:

_
EDIT 30.04.2013:

The printed mini palimpsest on DIY-paper triptych:

"Licht - Moon - They came from inner space", brasil, 2013

"Licht - Moon - They came from inner space", brasil, 2013
_part 1 "Licht"

"Licht - Moon - They came from inner space", brasil, 2013
_part 2 "Moon"

"Licht - Moon - They came from inner space", brasil, 2013
_part 3 "They came from inner space"

das meer, die nacht und deine liebe...

In March one of my aunts gave me an old window. The wooden frame has the size 25,9 x 88 cm and there're six little windows in the frame. They've got different sizes, the far left has got the size 18,7 x 5,3 cm, the next one has got the size 18,7 x 13,5 cm, and the others have got the size 18,7 x 12,5 cm.
But only four of them still have got the glass inside, at the far left and the far right the glass is missing.
To use it as a picture frame I cut six wood panels in the right sizes and fixed them with screws at the back.

On April 8th, when I picked up my pictures at the SAPo in Florianópolis, I was still at one of the beaches and took some photos with my Voigtländer Vitomatic II on expired (May 2012) Kodak UltraMax 400 film.

I'll use one of these pictures with the window frame, but, of course, I want to make a panoramic palimpsest out of it, because the frame is ideal for this.
As paper I'll use some pages from a German "Groschenroman" or as I call them "Herzschmerzromane" (in English "heartbreak novels") with the title "Das Meer, die Nacht und deine Liebe" (in English "The sea, the night and your love").

I made some Photoshop versions to test which picture looks best in the frame and on the paper:

version 1.1

version 1.2

version 1.3

version 1.4

version 1.5

version 1.6

version 1.7

version 1.8

version 1.9

version 4.11

version 4.12

At the end I've decided, that version 1.1 will be the best picture for this window frame!!!

In the next days I'll print the picture on the paper and put it into the window frame...

_
EDIT 30.04.2013:

The printed palimpsest:

"das meer, die nacht und deine liebe", brasil, 2013

Like always the printed palimpsest is different as the Photoshop version.
_

I will print the versions 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 and 1.8 as palimpsests, too, but will use them without a frame. I think, that I'll show them at the COLMÉIA 2013 event in August...

And here the masterplan of the work:

photo-wirrwarr...

Collateral effects or photo-wirrwarr of "das meer, die nacht und deine liebe" - version 12
_panorama palimpsest (photoshop test)...

more comin' soon...

See the picture as a palimpsest here!