The human organism functions by continually interacting with its environment. It manifests this interaction through the daily intake and elimination of various elements, such as oxygen, nutrients, or fluids. Like a sieve, it acts as a selective barrier, keeping the essential while discarding the expendable. Yet, despite the body seeming permeable, the aesthetics of the inner realm remain hidden from us. Only in extreme states are glimpses into our interior granted, blurring the boundaries between inside and outside. Alongside individual questions, the six artists engage with the presence and absence of human existence.
In Jens Kothe’s organic wall-works, the transgression of the inner to the outer is immediately evident. The dissected organisms appear vulnerable, allowing us to examine their inner details. By using diverse materials such as cushion wadding, silicone, basswood, steel, beeswax, stretch film, and fabrics treated with pigments, tactile associations are evoked in the viewers. Further, objects also carry inherent human presence, embodying gestures and human rituals. Krystel Cárdenas‘ objects reflects the everyday domestic ritual of humans, palpably conveying the past touch of the object. The delicate chair prompts an immediate association with the human body through its absence. Wax acts as an additional layer, accentuating the concealed in a new light that can only be revealed through the ignition of the wax. Berenice Olmedo reveals the concealed. Through subtle hints, she shows us who is typically not at the center of our society, offering a fresh perspective on body associations. Challenging norms is central to her works. With Jeanne Gaigher, the body becomes the vessel for what it carries. The composition and layering of materials transform the body into a space where information accumulates. It exists in symbiosis with its environment, which blossoms, decays, and disintegrates. To maintain balance between the two, an anatomical form becomes visible within the terrain. Carolina Aguirre’s work explores questions of belonging, whether to a place, nature, or a group. Belonging is examined as an embodied access, investigating the relationship between nature and psychology from a female and immigrant perspective. Helin Alas’ Traumhaus, which translates to dream house, is a symbol for the narrative of an upward mobility driven by bourgeois values, which can not necessarily be fulfilled and might even be obsolete in the future (in relation to class questions, social gap and the current housing situation). From a migrant perspective, the house is also a symbol for having arrived and belonging. As owning a house is often seen as a manifestation of success, the work is questioning conventional life goals. Most of the Traumhaus is already melted and collected in a box, like sediment layers of past dreams. While the works vary in terms of medium and materiality, the overlays and unveiling of the otherwise concealed elements within all artworks, give way to new narratives of the perception of human existence, allowing the hidden and inner aspects to permeate through.