2009-04-16.jpeg (first selfie), 2021, digital print, diverse sizes

2009-04-16.jpeg (First Selfie) was developed in 2021 within the exhibition I See You Now. It consists of a digital print of Hallauer’s first selfie, taken in 2009 with a webcam and recovered years later from a rescued hard disk. Based on a lost archive containing personal data of the artist, the work transforms a forgotten digital fragment into a physical image of memory and self-representation. Within I See You Now, the work forms part of Hallauer’s examination of personal archives, the painful return to the past, and the rediscovery of origins as a process of confronting and reinterpreting one’s own history. The recovered image creates a dialogue between past and present, revealing how forgotten traces continue to shape identity, memory, and the possibility of forgiveness. The transition from private digital data to public artwork questions how personal histories are preserved, reconstructed, and transformed through acts of remembrance.

The work was presented as part of the solo exhibition I See You Now at:
Schlumpf Art Space, Riehen, Basel 2021
And in the solo exhibition “New Skies” at
Induction Gallery, Los Angeles, 2026