10 June 2024
A richly nuanced intermediate realm of weakness, a liminal space of neutralized extremes, extends between power and powerlessness.”… “The elimination of the powerful binary attributions unlocks an entire spectrum of gradations and intermediate forms. Nuances come into view instead of the usual polarities; attention turns to subtleties rather than extremes” writes Kathrin Busch in her article “Becoming-Weak: Aesthetics of the Feeble Existence” in Texte zur Kunst (issue no. 130 / June 2023, pp. 33-46).
The workshop starts with a short theoretical discussion on aesthetics of the weak and fragile existence by discussing Kathrin Busch’s text “Becoming-Weak: Aesthetics of the Feeble Existence” in Texte zur Kunst (issue no. 130 / June 2023, pp. 33-46), which should be read by the students before the workshop. Followed by a joint discussion of practical examples from artists and their artistic strategies such as: Geta Bratescu, Olga Balema, Henrik Olesen, Senga Nengudi, Hana Miletic, we will then together practically research materials and their characteristics, their intermediate forms and subtleties.
I will bring different materials and would like to ask the students to bring (non-toxic) materials, that they usually don’t work with, consider as fragile and are willing to share with the group, so that we have a pool of materials that we can experiment with. Please bring for example: rubber bands, ear sticks, cardboard cut outs, nylon tights, brushes … We try out how materials can be formed without heavy gear, how different materials react to each other and reflect on whether to make processes visible. In the end we might have small sculptures with materials that we are not used to work with.