In the large-format piece, Pole Positions, created in 2005, Friedemann Flöther worked with an abstract language that at first glance appears to be indebted to the aesthetics of motor racing. But the undulating, seemingly fluttering surface of the metal start/finish flag – measuring 3.34 x 5.18 metres in its largest version – is crumpled, bent and scratched in several places. These areas of damage reveal that it is made of dented engine bonnets and is the result of considerable violence. The initial suggestion of a fascination with speed gives way to a more sombre mood the moment we consider what may have caused the damage to the bonnets.

Andrea Jahn