installation views

Birds (3); ceramic, glaze, porcelain, secondhand ceramic birds; 15 x 28,5 x 23 cm

Birds (4); ceramic, glaze, porcelain, secondhand ceramic birds; 14 x 25 x 25 cm

Birds (2); ceramic, glaze, porcelain, secondhand ceramic birds, steel; 15,5 x 22 x 20 cm

Birds (1); ceramic, glaze; 15,5 x 24,5 x 23 cm

Birds (5); ceramic, glaze, porcelain, secondhand ceramic birds; 16 x 17,5 x 13,5 cm

2025

Galerie Petra Rinck
Düsseldorf

Group show with
Dragutin Banic, Markus Karstiess, Julia Klemm, Filiz Özcelik, Viola Relle




Birds
The starting point for this ceramic series ´birds´ are digitized 3D models of porcelain macaws from the 18th century produced by the Meissen porcelain manufactory. These exotic bird sculptures embody a European aesthetic of the foreign and once served as a colonial representation.

During a residency in Colombia lasting several weeks, I worked with the newly formed German-Colombian collective ´C.I.C. – Centro de Investigación en Cerámica´. Together, we explored so-called ´wild clays´ from the Santa Rosa de Cabal region – locally sourced, untreated clays. After processing them, I used the 3D-printed negative molds I had brought with me to form fragments of the original porcelain macaws: scaled ceramic parts of bird bodies.

In a second step, I combined these with ceramic birds found at Colombian flea markets – mass-produced decorative objects that represent contemporary everyday culture and resemble today's European mass-produced ceramics. I also left these objects fragmentary, open, permeable, processual.
The result was hybrid objects that deliberately subvert the hierarchies between high and everyday culture, between colonial representation and the local present. Their cracks, breaks, and cavities evoke associations of transformation and loss, in which cultural meanings can overlap and shift.

The final firing took place in a wood-fired ceramic kiln, beyond industrial standardization. In this archaic process, flames, heat, and ash create uncontrolled surfaces that reveal uncontrollable color gradients, deposits, and traces.

phenotypic plasticity; ceramic, glaze, steel, pigments; 48 x 40 x 47 xm