Falter (moth) - Uster, Switzerland, 2020
Starting point of my research is the industrial past of Uster as a town of spinning and weaving factories and its involvement in the global trade of cotton at the time of European colonialism.
The installation in the akku kunstkiste (art box) consists of diverse elements: One turned stool leg in scale 10:1 (I brought the small original back from a stay in India), an enlarged print of a digital drawing of the stool leg which I made for the CNC-turning machine, four steles (as silhouettes), one big moth in four parts (four canvases) and rose madder (dyer’s madder, one of the oldest dying colour for textiles).
The work with the different, seemingly disconnected objects is the provisional result of my dealing with questions about the origins of material, techniques and forms and their often unjust and violent (mis-)appropriation.
Media:
- Turned stool leg, wood (beech), oiled, size 1.50m
- 4 Steles, painted, white and blackboard colour, size 1.30m,
2 steles each 1.50m, 2.70m - 4 canvases (cotton) with wooden structure, painted with rose madder colour,
size 4 x (1.50m x 2.10m) - Paint NCS nr S1002-Y (wall), Paint NCS nr S4040‑Y10R (floor)
4 fluorescent tubes nr 950 - Akku Container: 5m x 2m x 2m
Acknowledgement:
- Christian Widmer, Moser Holzbau AG, Gossau, for cutting the wood elements for the steles with the CNC moulding cutter for free.
- Turnery (Drechslerei) Bietenholz + Müller GmbH, Wil, for producing the oversized stool leg with their CNC turning machine.
- Francis Bovet, for making the parts for the montage of the steles and for letting me work in his workshop.
- D. Hegnauer, for the generous financial support.