Bud Kraus

The pilot study for the Reading Hohenschönhausen project happened in the winter of 2017 during an artist residency in Berlin. I was continuing my research on carved graffiti and visited the Stasi prison memorial Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, where I saw markings on the walls and in books left by political prisoners from about 1982-1989. The markings deal … Read more

Unbound is a work of drawings and poetry in preparation for an installation. The cut-up poetry (see below) of Unbound is an ambiguous collaboration: the lines in the poems are phrases set out by anonymous inmates at the secret Stasi prison, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen in the 1980s. I work with these texts translated from German to English because … Read more

In History, Sideways the past is represented in a palimpsest of scratched graffiti that I found and copied from different places and periods of time in Cyprus. Most of these inscriptions had not been recorded before and some no longer exist, so the process of finding is an essential part of my process. I have … Read more

These selected works are based on frottages, or rubbings of historical ship graffiti that I saw on walls of the ruined Church of St. George of the Greeks, in Famagusta, Cyprus. The graffiti date from c.1570 to 1920 and they are represented at real size. I also do not modify the graffiti, and this includes … Read more

These works generally explore areas where drawing and writing overlap. These works are repetitive, and this gives me space to think about what authenticity is, what is copying, and how speed looks. As a child, I saw my grandmother’s household notes in stenography which I understood as her private script. Her notes came to mind … Read more

Stone re-use is a uniting theme in several of my visual and written works. I explore how stones incorporate economic, political and emotional aspects of societies while being elements of interiors and exteriors – both separating, and sheltering or uniting. The projects began with some Cypriot lore: In the 19th century Mediaeval and Classical monuments … Read more

The messagefield project is a drawing / performance / installation, using apparatuses specifically designed to produce markings from the movement of wind, water or a tree. I made the first wind apparatuses for the Sixth International Armenian Biennale in 2002. I thought, what if I could “catch” messages coming over the shoulders of Mt. Ararat … Read more