Katinka Bock Commotion in Higienópolis

Exhibition from 09 Oct 2019 to 05 Jan 2020

4 years and 4 months ago

Katinka Bock's sculptures, performances and installations result from her investigation of the physical and material conditions of a given place, and an exploration of its historical, social and political charge. As such, they are all connected to her experience of that place.
Her interest in place and dimension is reflected in the hypotheses she formulates prior to the sculpting process, and by her questioning of our preconception of a place, its persistence in time or how it becomes altered through use. Her work has been shown worldwide but – surprisingly, considering this has been her home for many years – never in Paris. Restoration of a building in Hanover has provided an unexpected opportunity to develop, with the artist, an original and spectacular project with elements in every part of Lafayette Anticipations. The building in question, the Anzeiger-Hochhaus in Hanover, is one of the city's most remarkable, as well as a landmark in news publishing as Der Stern and Der Spiegel, two influential weeklies, both originated in its basement. The roof of this huge rectangle of red brick supports a copper dome measuring 12 metres in diameter, now patinated green. Restoration of this listed building has permitted Katinka Bock to recover some of this copper. Immediately, Bock identified analogies between the Anzeiger-Hochhaus building and that of Lafayette Anticipations, a space for ideas and creativity that begins in the basement studios where works are produced, and rises towards the public areas. The symbolic nature of this physical ascension was not lost on the artist, whose project to fill the central exhibition tower with a suspended installation is characteristic of her heightened sensitivity to dimension, material conditions, space and time. Exhibition organized in collaboration with the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover. With the support of Madsack. In partnership with Libération, L'Officiel Art and Trois Couleurs.
Exhibition view "Commotion in Higienópolis" of Katinka Bock © Pierre Antoine
Exhibition view "Commotion in Higienópolis" of Katinka Bock © Pierre Antoine
Exhibition view "Commotion in Higienópolis" of Katinka Bock © Pierre Antoine