Project „Tiere unter uns“ („Animals among us“) had begun thanks to my love for porcelain, pure curiosity and desire to experiment. My first intention was to introduce porcelain to the public in a slightly different way, not as most people know in the form of a plate or a tea pot. I aimed to illustrate its purity and first of all, its unique ability for translucency. At one point the project evolved to include the idea of working with animal names that are commonly used as surnames. Step by step my project with the envelopes started to form. An Envelope, a letter is something understood as an old-fashioned form of communication but at the same time it contains hidden magic. Nothing can substitute that moment when you open an envelope with your name on it, full of expectation and a feeling of curiosity. Now you can imagine the situation of receiving an envelope that is unusual or not adressed to you. In that case your conditioned reflex would be to lift up the envelope and look at it against the light to see if something is visible. I used this reflex for my porcelain envelopes. I hid the coloured motif of an animal in each letter. Thanks to the special mixure of porcelain and paper, the envelopes become very translucent after firing and the motifs are clearly visible against the light. Each envelope is an original and each is adressed to one person. I chose seventeen different animal names carried by people living in Linz, and during several days, delivered fifty four envelopes by hand to mailboxes all over the city. The letters included invitation cards for the presentation of my project in the center of the city at Hauptplatz, where I installed a panel with a story in which all of the animals play a part. The Fairy Tale about the Hut (see below) is not only a story about animals looking for a new home, but it delivers an important message about tolerance and solidarity.
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