Katinka Bock
A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Lyon in 2005, Katinka Bock has, since the 2000s, been exploring what she terms ‘being-together’ through sculptures, videos and installations that emphasise the uniqueness of materials and the fragility of their coexistence. Her works always stem from an experience linked to a specific place, whose physical and material conditions she examines whilst exploring their historical, political and social dimensions.
Her work also demonstrates a particular focus on the human scale, often using the body as a measuring tool, as in Horizontal Alphabet (black) (2016), where the size of each brick corresponds to the imprint of a hand or foot. This exploration takes shape through simple and often humble materials, such as sand, clay, paper, stone, chalk, wood, water and metal, chosen for their physical properties. These materials—often soft and flexible—are cut, folded, flattened and rolled up before being subjected to accidents or natural phenomena.
This is the case, for example, with Local Colour Balance (2009) and Miles and Moments (2011). The first, created for his exhibition at the Skulpturenpark in Cologne, is an outdoor sculpture for which the artist laid several slabs of unfired clay on an existing paving slab, where they were exposed to the wind, sun, moisture and dust for several weeks before being fired. The second, created during a residency at the Detroit Institute of Contemporary Art, consists of six rolls of terracotta imprinted with car tyre tracks, thereby forging links not only with Detroit’s industrial and artisanal past, but also with the museum’s geographical location, situated near a six-lane arterial road. These two pieces demonstrate that, for Katinka Bock, the artwork is never an end in itself, but a vehicle for experiencing time and space.
By arranging these materials alongside one another, as well as with everyday objects such as straps, fabrics or tripods, Bock creates sculptures that appear both robust and delicate, their balance seeming precarious, as if they were on the verge of toppling over or breaking. Rejecting the monumentality of a certain sculptural tradition, his pieces often extend horizontally, ‘holding their shape’ whilst sagging slightly. They can nevertheless be large in scale and involve considerable weight. This is the case, for example, with Haltung (2010), in which the artist has suspended a huge stone from a table supported by just two legs, using metal wires. The power of this sculpture thus lies in the tension created between opposing realities, juxtaposing a natural element with an object crafted on a human scale. As in all the artist’s works, this is a sensitive reflection on the relationships that form between beings and things, between the self and the other.
