| Exhibition ăFusch* am Bau - Wasser
teilen" | construction botch - parting water by Knut Eckstein and Johannes Lothar Schršder In
this text the author, who at the same time is one
of the two exhibiters, lets the installations be initial point for thoughts about the yearly subject of which eventually unfold conclusions to the respective works and approaches for the discussions this year. Packaging material of
grocery products and goods of all kinds offer Knut Eckstein building
material for his installations of which some are inspired by improvised
residencies or working places. To dwellings converted cardboard boxes
point to architecture generally being temporary as much as stony
facades evoke the illusion of eternity. A bag of empty spray paint cans
and left- behind paper plates and cups are legacies of open-air studios
in cities with bleak facades, un-payable rents for studios and a
precarious situation of public space. From such a contemporary presence
of temporary spaces and informal work places as well as the suggestion
of its possible use do the installation of Eckstein draw their effect.
Schršder presents intermediate results of a long term project about improvised sleeping spots that have been documented on journeys. During the last years he tried to re-locate the sleeping spots with the help of Google-Earth. With sufficient definition of the satellite images isolated changes by new housing construction or expansion of infrastructure of these spots could be monitored which would make a repeated suitability for overnight stays of the regarded fields questionable. Ownership, value and occupancy of a place in public space are not only manifested in urbane space and buildings but they also expand around the whole globe. |
To
take up a space - even if only temporarily - movements,
ges- tures, presence of passersby and one's own appearance also play a
role besides the juridical circumstances (land register). Indica- tions
like brand names, graffiti tags, signs, wall images, various items like
towels for example underline competing demands and sure enough access
for a spot in the public space occurs. More or less brutally claimed
are areas that are enclosed sometimes
even with fences, walls, barricades and trenches complicating entering.
Related to the spatial territorial conditions the installations and
media in this exhibition visualize also the continuous adjustments of
interfaces between private and public usage of not built-up areas.
1. Concrete level: Everything is moveable
MOBILITY BY DISINTEGRATION Based on the material aspects of both positions two approaches are distinguishable: The cardboard boxes mainly used by Eckstein are packaging material from consumer goods and wares. They are highly mobile and exchangeable because they consist of disin- tegrated wood which recycled becomes for a great part again base material for new packaging. This process is also common in the building industry where only rarely natural stone is used any longer. Instead of chopping, cutting and sawing grown resources to make them fit raw material is disintegrated and blended with bonding agents cast in fitting forms, pressed or sculpted. Thus a work piece is no longer developed sculpturally but molded from concrete, glas and metal. Compared to the boxes sleeping spots in the open are highly immobile. They are not transportable so that only a memory can be taken away from them. Sleeping spots are non-material even though they belong to the material level - the earth's crust. They are borrowed from the matter which is only occupied but not |
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| *
The author intentionally botched with the German word 'botch' which
actually is 'Pfusch' - he spells it without 'Pfusch' to confuse with
other German words: 'Fisch' (fish) and 'fesch' (fetching, posh,
smart), in order to evoke associations like 'something "stinks" in the
construction business' (when something is not
correctly/rightly/socially done) or the trendiness of modern building
constructions. |
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| more photographs of the installation |
Vernissage |
| This exhibition is the 03. for the year project shared space 2009 of the EINSTELLUNGSRAUM e.V. | |
| Supported by the department for culture, sports and media of Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg and district office Wandsbek | |