2017 – 2018

GIVING AND TAKING

A Logbook

460 x 120 x 7 cm

The subject of giving and taking and its balance has always been a topic of philosophical and spiritual considerations. In order to reflect my personal relationship to nature in this context, I established an exchange of materials over the course of one year, documenting the process in a logbook. The aim of this work was finding the right balance between giving and taking and to make it visible. The lunar rhythm served as cyclical structure: every day during the waxing moon I took possession of one object from my surrounding nature and during the waning moon I gave away one thing from my existing possessions after making a mould of it with clay. The outcome of this artistic action was a collection of found objects and clay moulds accompanied by a booklet explaining the process.

Dealing with this topic over such a long period of time has changed my working process: Gradually I developed a new way of giving. In the beginning I was giving away things with an interesting imprint, but that I mostly considered useless and wanted to get rid off while the objects I took into my possession were beautiful. Realizing the imbalance in my actions I began making gifts to nature. I created art objects of natural and decomposable materials, which I set free at selected places in nature thanking her for the abundance of inspiration and moments of happiness I got.

Medium: clay, wood, found objects
Technique: process oriented installation