The exhibition at the Museum for Sepulchral Culture opens up an exciting dialogue between the finiteness of life and the artistic examination of the present. Till Müller's works, which address both the transience and the preservation of conditions, offer a unique view of the transformation of material and thought. Some of his works directly address the gravity of death, while others take up the subject with humour and lightness. Müller himself describes his art as a bridge between life and death: ‘My aim is to translate the transformation of materials and thoughts into an artistic form that gives new meaning to life in the “here and now”.’

Till Müller is a trained bricklayer, reinforced concrete worker and wood sculptor and worked in his father's stonemasonry business from an early age. With his studies at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe and his time as a master student of the renowned sculptor Stephan Balkenhol, he has also developed an independent artistic position. Born in Hesse, his works oscillate between sculpture and object, drawing and painting. A selection of his works can be seen at the Museum for Sepulchral Culture from February 14.

Important information:

The exhibition is located in our rotunda, which is unfortunately only accessible via a staircase.
Access to the exhibition is therefore unfortunately not barrier-free.
If you have any questions, please contact us at: info@sepulkralmuseum.de. 

Materialisation of transience

An extract of an interview between Anna Lipscher and Till Müller

Anna Lischper:

You work with different materials, from wood to stone. Each material has its own specific requirements and demands a particular craft. What appeals to you?

Till Müller:

That's a good keyword, the one about craftsmanship, because that's where I come from. It was only through craftsmanship that I got into the artistic field, so I added a liberal arts degree on top of that. The basis for my decision to take this path was that working as a bricklayer or stonemason or wood sculptor alone, i.e. purely service-related work, did not satisfy me. I felt the need to incorporate the artistic level. The basis is my knowledge of the material, which I learnt as a craftsman.

Anna Lischper: 

One focus of your artistic work is the processing of disused gravestones, so the areas in the cemetery where the cleared and often very diverse stones lie are a great material store for you, aren't they?

Till Müller:

My father has a stonemasonry business that I've been working in for a long time. Recycling old gravestones is a must. We dismantle them on behalf of customers, for example. The disused stones that are stored in cemeteries often end up in the shredder. We can then help ourselves to some of them or buy stones for a small amount of money. Sometimes you are also approached: Hey, there's some material here that's too good to shred or break. Do you want that? And so I've accumulated a certain amount of material that I can then access. Unfortunately, there is a risk that collecting will get out of hand. A warehouse can also mutate into a graveyard for money.

Anna Lischper:

When you work with materials such as stone or wood, you sometimes take a step that you can't undo. How do you deal with that?

Till Müller:

Yes, that happens. However, after a certain amount of time, you develop expertise or professionalism, which means that mistakes rarely happen. That's another area where the previous technical training comes in handy - the work steps that are right.

Anna Lischper:

Would you say that your previous training in craftsmanship has prepared you well in this respect to realise the work as you have it in your head?

Till Müller:

For me, that's part of artistic freedom. I don't know how to realise something, at least for my work.

During my studies, however, I was criticised a little for still working with wood or stone because it's so archaic. There were also professors who said to us people in my class, who were still working relatively classically, ‘Another wooden sculpture! Do something different. There is also the theory at the art academies that some students are spoilt in terms of craftsmanship and can no longer open themselves up to free work. Partly rightly so. I see it more like this: you can concentrate much better on free artistic work if you are able to saw off a board. You don't need to waste so much time bursting into tears because something has broken off in the wrong place again or I've got an angle grinder stuck in my leg. But that happens too.

You can read the full interview in german here.

Three works by Till Müller were created especially for the exhibition at the Museum for Sepulchral Culture. They address profound themes such as transience, life and death. The recurring motifs in his wooden reliefs - such as death, the trees of life, the cherubs, the stone heads and the snake - create a continuous, symbolic narrative about the cycle of life and the inseparable connection to our finiteness. The play of colours, such as the celestial tones of the Tree of Life, and the ghostly depiction of Death holding an hourglass, reinforce this philosophical exploration.

A wooden relief, painted in red, shows a smiling figure of the dead next to two stone heads. In the other two works, the tree of life forms the central motif. One of these works shows the tree of life in brightly illuminated, almost heavenly, sacred colours. On the opposite wall, the tree of life is also used as a central motif, with a snake entwined around it. This bites into an apple and is held in place by a cherub. At the bottom of the tree of life is the end of the snake's body, which is touched by a representation of Death. Death is holding an hourglass in his hand - time is running out.

Müller's works are reminiscent of motifs and scenes by Hans Baldung Grien, a German painter of the 15th century. These are motifs that can also be found in the museum's permanent exhibition, but in a different context.

Müller himself says that the main link between his works and the museum is the overarching theme of the ‘finiteness of life and its consequences’.  The transitions from the here and now to the hereafter are usually fluid, as we can see in the new works. The tree of life is linked to death and time.

Press Coverage 

Programme in the Hessenschau: Death sharpens awareness of life in the here and now

Article in the HNA: On finiteness and freedom