In autumn 2015, media artist Wolf Nkole Helzle was invited to China by the Beijing University of Technology - College of Art and Design - for a two-week teaching assignment. While preparing for the trip - he knew that he would be teaching 40 students - Helzle already had a work in mind for which he needed 40 people. With the involvement of the Chinese students, he then developed an unconventional series of figures.

The students lined up in a large circle in the university courtyard, with one student in the centre. All the students photographed the person in the centre at the same time with their smartphones. All the individual portraits were then layered translucently - similar to the landscapes - and these poetic 360-degree figures emerged.

During the unforgettable two-week stay, Helzle tried to familiarise the students with his special way of working - photographic densification and everything that goes with it. Together, they photographed several hundred students, professors and, for example, all the kitchen staff in order to create a collective portrait. Everyone was also encouraged to take part in a large myMatrix project with their own pictures. He also invited them to a WALK and showed them how to turn many pictures into one. They were also interested in the large net art project I AM WE_interactive image, which was then also shown as part of the joint final exhibition.

The series of figures matches the interests of the media artist in many respects. For example, what kind of image is created when something is viewed from many sides.