(The German title loosely evokes associations with the English proverb "The early bird catches the worm.")

“Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund” (1989) is an experimental film created during the final phase of my studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig (HBK Braunschweig). It documents a real morning in a private domestic setting as a continuous, time-based cinematic situation.

A key inspiration for the work was Andy Warhol’s 70-minute experimental film Kitchen (1965), based on a script by Ronald Tavel.

The film follows a shared morning between myself and my then partner, Daniel Webster Steinhardt, in my apartment in Braunschweig on December 23, 1989, one day before Christmas. During breakfast, a continuous conversation unfolds around everyday subjects such as garlic, personal relationships, literature, and differing perspectives on friendships and future expectations.

The act of eating breakfast together and the recurring presence of raw garlic become central motifs around which the dialogue develops in real time. The work explores intimacy, duration, communication, and emotional distance within an ordinary domestic situation.

While my partner appears optimistic and future-oriented, I am in a transitional phase at the end of my studies, marked by uncertainty and an as yet undefined vision of my future as an artist. The film captures this subtle tension between two contrasting emotional and existential states within a real, unfiltered situation.