Simone Kessler

Allinstallation, clay, irrigation system, spot light, reflection, dimensions variable, (exhibition view)
Allinstallation, clay, irrigation system, spot light, reflection, dimensions variable
(exhibition view)

All consists of an unfired slab of clay lying on the floor directed towards the prominent wall in the exhibition space. The clay is sprayed with fine water mist every eight minutes with the help of an irrigation system. A spotlight is directed at the wet clay slab and projects its reflection onto the wall. The structure of the clay appears as a constantly changing image: It looks like a glimpse into a universe full of stars and planets that dissolve into milky clouds, only to re-form into new galaxies.

From the Series Clay Studies:

In Clay Studies, Simone Kessler has concentrated entirely on the material clay, aiming to create something temporary, something that lives and continues to develop. The starting point for her series of works was her piece Boden, a 50-square-meter room with a smooth floor made of earth-moist clay. The artist had brought 3.5 tons of raw material by trailer from a Hessian clay pit to the exhibition space and spread it out on the floor in painstaking manual labor until a flat surface was created. In the exhibition, the clay surface could be viewed but not walked on. Kessler was primarily concerned with the spatial effect of the material and the confrontation with its transformation process. After the exhibition, she tore the work down: crushed to powder and mixed with water, the clay became a mass with homogeneous color and new suppleness again. It serves as a raw material for subsequent works. The objects created from the recycled clay are once again entirely dedicated to the material and its processes of change. The unpreservable state of the material is an important subject in the series Clay Studies.