Objective of Play

Objective of Play
at galerie OPEN by Alexandra Rockelmann, Berlin
26. July - 31. August



Untitled, 2011
Cotton, wax and brass fittings

Sculptural works.

Since I have been in Berlin I have felt restricted by space and money, however, like a goldfish, I have grown to fit my home and have begun to work on smaller forms. They take on a maquette-like presence, representing forms that would be big enough to fill a room.



I have started to build wire boxes around the form that give them their own structure to hang from, and enable me to visualise better how they will look in a larger space. It is tricky to workout how to cut and sew forms in order to achieve certain movements or forms in the final object.

Side project

I have always sketched cartoons and created little characters but never seen them as something that represents my 'art', but having left university and trying to figure out what I should be doing, I have realised that my 'art' is whatever I do, here are a few of my recent characters...

Infiltrate - Berlin

Check this

Hidden spaces.

Finally I am starting a new project - collaboration - with a dancer. Its going to be a steep learning curve. Thinking of how to use the space is the most important at this point. We have a level of a large room from an old brewery that has been taken over by artists and small galleries and project spaces. A real Berlin-esque space. Crumbly walls, rough floors and cracks in the ceiling letting in the light from outside. Big steal girders and lots of rubbish to clear away.

I cant wait. It's important though, I feel, to keep the feeling of the space. It would be such a shame to take away what makes it so exciting. I always find it hard to know how to go about using a space. Urban exploration comes to mind. It epitomises how I see and feel about Berlin. Everything is through people and exploration. There is an entire network of people who have come together through a desire to live in this city. People are passionate about the city because it is so 'alive' and the reason for that is that to really enjoy it you have to discover all the secret, hidden locations and events. Its a big adventure where you have to talk to people and engage with everyone and everything to live it. One giant treasure hunt where everyone is involved and excited.

With regards to this new project... I want to create an 'urban' or 'un-natural' garden that can be walked through. A space/experience/environment. Interiors and exteriors. Smells and curiosities. Within the hidden space there are little corners to discover. An adventure playground for the imagination.

Karsten Holler quoted:

"When you are a young artist you want to become somebody who is able to show his work outside of the studio. Often it takes a while before one of these works gets out. But when get some kind of public approval for what you're doing it's actually very hard to stop doing that. It's not only art magazines and journalists who are branding you; in some ways you are branding yourself. You say: 'Oh, well I did so many other things before and nobody really showed an interest in that, but suddenly I have something that people get interested in, which also means that the art magazines are writing about it, so I will have a very hard time trying to change that into something else.' So I think a lot of branding is a secondary effect of a more psychological difficulty of the artist to overcome this problem."
(art review)

Ritual:

Akha swing festival!