"What may on the surface appear as an abstraction inflected by certain constructive or architectural aspects is in reality a representation of “places”— in fact, of cities. The importance of the notion of place in German culture is well known: Heidegger, for example, in his reflection on the origins of being, made it a concept as fundamental as it is mysterious. The idea seduces Ackermann, too; in his work it takes the form of a strange mental mapping in which sensations, impressions, atmospheres, predictions, and prophecies are concretized into color, line, and volume. The paintings are often flanked by photographic fragments that, for a moment, lead the mind to a definite place, a fragment of reality that contrasts with the magmatic delirium of the painting, which, instead, deliberately brings to mind a non-place," (M. Meneguzzo, “Franz Ankermann,” Art Forum, April 2001).