Above us, only sky

The room-filling installation is the third part of Sebastian Klug’s trilogy on the excesses of capitalism and the first presentation of his own work in the project space he founded. The series is based on an examination of the phenomenon of increasingly luxurious modes of transportation for the rapidly growing class of ultra-wealthy individuals with more than $100 million in financial assets (which has doubled in Germany over the past six years, growing from 3,900 in 2025 to 5,000 in 2026).

Following my work with social media images of SUVs against rugged mountain backdrops (“Autoimpuls,” 2023) and super yachts against breathtaking Mediterranean or Arctic landscapes (“Inselbegabung,” 2024), “Above us, only sky” addresses the booming industry of private luxury jets. Staged with striking imagery against landscapes once associated with romanticism—such as solitary mountains, islands, or panoramic skies—the depiction of nature is stripped of meaning and misused as a backdrop for a commercialized, luxury-class lifestyle. The title is taken from John Lennon’s “Imagine” and alludes to the call to recognize no higher authorities, especially when they act irresponsibly.

Cutting the usurpers out of the room-filling screenshots symbolically liberates the landscapes and transforms the backdrops into protagonists. The result is free, organic formations that straddle the boundaries of photography, sculpture, and architecture. The radical, performative gesture of cutting with scissors brings light and air into the space and invites visitors to engage in a play of visual, perspectival, and haptic perception.