WAND II
2014

24 upright panel elements are mounted on a framework and joined together to a wall. Each element consists of a 2 cm styrofoam board, coated on one side by a thin cast layer of plaster. These panels are attached to the framework construction of thin perforated aluminium corner profiles by screws.
The structure resulting from placing identical modules one next to the other reminds of elements for lightweight construction as they are commercially available and of the repetitive casing facades of contemporary new buildings. The panels though, each piece fabricated by hand, show variations and an unusual combination of material qualities. Different degrees of luster and brightness in the reflective even plaster surface indicate the traces from cleaning the mold and the dynamics of the plaster when liquid.

The wall is as much an architectural factor as it is an image: a display that shows its fabrication process and establishes a dialogue of presenting surfaces with the surrounding space. Placed in the gallery space like a partition, it turns into a „pointer“, a tool, pointing back to the space.
Whether this construction entitled „wall“ would be appropriate as a such remains doubtable. But it acts as a placeholder for the experience and function of a wall in a general sense by introducing a wall‘s characteristics: partition and display, the plane and the comprised volume, localisation and temporality of the constructed existence.

Modelling plaster, polystyrene, aluminium, screws | 300 x 400 x 90 cm

Exhibition view: Galerie Bob Gysin, Zürich, 2014