The tongue palpates the aching tooth, the cosmos palpates the earth.
Cavity
2018
Fundaziun NAIRS, Switzerland, Residency and exhibition
The alps of the Swiss Lower Engadine have a cavities that cannot be fixed. The local nature behaves like a living protagonist rather than dormant matter. The structure of this raw landscape is in constant transformation at a speed that is noticeable from day to day. The mountain-material seems to disintegrate while man made infrastructures sit on un-firm ground. With a material laboratory and daily observations, I use mimetic methods to get closer to general questions about holes, porous structures, instabilities, but also about the human interactions and traces within these natural forces. Build structures have arranged themselves over centuries while dealing with a world of constant movement and overwhelming scale. Soft and hard matter meet under friction, they push and pull. I generate building strategies for materials that are reactive to surrounding conditions.
A literary quote by Frank Witzel accompanies my process that swings between studio practice and outdoor exposure: „Die Zunge befühlt den schmerzenden Zahn, das Weltall befühlt die Erde.“
Loosely translated: „The tongue palpates the aching tooth, the cosmos palpates the earth.“
