Économie de la matière / Ökonomie der Materie
Charlotte Perrin, Philipp Valenta
Curated by Christian Gode
7 August - 23 August 2020
Kunsthallen Bochum
Rottstr. 5 - 44793
Bochum, Germany
For the exhibition "Économie de la matière / Ökonomie der Materie“ at the Kunsthallen Bochum, the artists Charlotte Perrin and Philipp Valenta divided the exhibition in two spaces, each one investing one of the two exhibition hall.
In his exhibition hall, Philipp Valenta presents a situation-related intervention under the title „besenrein“ (in english “swept clean”), which refers to the difficult financial situation of artistic projects and artist life plans that have been strongly impacted during the corona crisis.
Before the opening, he cleaned his space, which remains empty for the exhibition, and will clean again at the end of the exhibition collecting dust and any rubbish that have accumulated on the floor during the show. These will thus materialise the artwork, accompanied by a video of the artist cleaning the space.
Charlotte Perrin developed for her exhibition hall two distinct works. Both works deal with manual and industrial manufacturing processes, that she relates into a temporary spatial composition.
In his exhibition hall, Philipp Valenta presents a situation-related intervention under the title „besenrein“ (in english “swept clean”), which refers to the difficult financial situation of artistic projects and artist life plans that have been strongly impacted during the corona crisis.
Before the opening, he cleaned his space, which remains empty for the exhibition, and will clean again at the end of the exhibition collecting dust and any rubbish that have accumulated on the floor during the show. These will thus materialise the artwork, accompanied by a video of the artist cleaning the space.
Charlotte Perrin developed for her exhibition hall two distinct works. Both works deal with manual and industrial manufacturing processes, that she relates into a temporary spatial composition.
The imposing textile artwork has been made from work clothes of doctors and nurses. She kept the patterns of the clothes (shirts and pants) that she recomposed into a large textile surface as high as the room. The work partially obstructs the room while being lit up by the large windows of the room. On one side, we can see the superposition of cloth pieces, on the other side the sewn part and its stitching lines. Standing in the room, there are four wooden sculptures of the same size, which refer to four ways of cutting boards from a tree trunk. Techniques dating from the Middle Ages and still used today in the wood industry. The artist recomposed with three-layer wood panels the original shape of a tree trunk in four parts. If the four sculptures were put together, they would form a large tree trunk.
The exhibition have been supported by Kulturbüro Bochum, Stadtwerke Bochum, Kulturbüro Wuppertal and Hebebühne e.V
Documentation pictures: copyright of Charlotte Perrin
Kunsthallen Bochum, exhibition view, installation by Charlotte Perrin "Économie de la Matière“,
Kunsthallen Bochum, exhibition view, installation by Charlotte Perrin "Économie de la Matière“,
textile work 430 x 232 cm, wooden sculptures 117 x 30 x 30 cm each, 2020.