Sky is the Limit by Christelle Oyiri is made possible through the new ZF Fellowship RE-SEARCH.
RE-SEARCH, the first ZF Fellowship awarded by the ZF Art Foundation, will go to Christelle Oyiri in 2025. It enables the French artist to engage with the Zeppelin Archive and develop the work Sky is the Limit for the exhibition Image and Power. Zooming into Zeppelin Photography. In Sky is the Limit, Oyiri explores how information and spectacle have become inseparably intertwined, using the Hindenburg disaster (1937) and the September 11 attacks (2001) as case studies. For the artist, these aviation catastrophes symbolize an era of emotionally charged imagery, where the boundaries between reality and media staging begin to blur.
The multi-layered installation Sky is the Limit was conceived specifically for the exhibition Image and Power. Zooming into Zeppelin Photography and developed in close dialogue with the Zeppelin Archive. The artwork questions how media symbols shape our historical narratives and self-perception—revealing hidden fantasies of power, hubris, and imperial ambition. Her kaleidoscopic video installation combines archival footage with a stylized visual language inspired by American filmmaker Brian De Palma. Oyiri not only connects the disasters aesthetically but also philosophically: each represents a moment of technological ambition culminating in tragedy—exposing the fine line between progress and hubris.
The exhibition Image and Power. Zooming into Zeppelin Photography examines how images of Zeppelins were used in various political contexts for national self-representation and the exercise of power. In an age where images are omnipresent, the exhibition raises timely questions about the power of images, their manipulation, and their truthfulness. In light of today’s digital image overload, it addresses the urgent issue of how images are instrumentalized and how they shape our perception of reality.
RE-SEARCH. The ZF Fellowship is a new multi-year funding program by the ZF Art Foundation. It explicitly supports the work of the Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen. The artistic research project RE-SEARCH is endowed with 30,000 euros per year and enables a contemporary artist to develop and produce innovative artworks in close dialogue with the Zeppelin Archive or the museum’s collections. The goal is to create site- and context-specific works that reinterpret the museum’s holdings in new and meaningful ways.
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