— too bold, too big, to far: Unrealized artworks become visible. Artists from all over connect.
While mobility is restricted, borders and distances are clearly perceptible and existential uncertainties
are omnipresent, more artistic works than ever remain in the state of planning. Whether it fails due to
lack of time, space or money or accompanies your artistic work for years as bold dream — we are looking
for your projects, which have not (yet) made it beyond their state as an idea, concept, draft or prototype.
With this exhibition we want to open up a space and visibility in terms of concepts, sketches, drafts, plans
and photographs. These papers will be presented at the art space BLECH. in Halle, Germany.
At the same time, despite current challenges and immobility, this format allows to present
and bring international artists together. Since many things cannot take place on location and in person,
there will be an online programm additional to the exhibtion. For an exchange and encounters, the
participating artists and their work will be presented and discussed on a digital platform.
— too bold, too big, to far: Unrealized artworks become visible. Artists from all over connect.
While mobility is restricted, borders and distances are clearly perceptible and existential uncertainties
are omnipresent, more artistic works than ever remain in the state of planning. Whether it fails due to
lack of time, space or money or accompanies your artistic work for years as bold dream — we are looking
for your projects, which have not (yet) made it beyond their state as an idea, concept, draft or prototype.
With this exhibition we want to open up a space and visibility in terms of concepts, sketches, drafts, plans
and photographs. These papers will be presented at the art space BLECH. in Halle, Germany.
At the same time, despite current challenges and immobility, this format allows to present
and bring international artists together. Since many things cannot take place on location and in person,
there will be an online programm additional to the exhibtion. For an exchange and encounters, the
participating artists and their work will be presented and discussed on a digital platform.
claire laude
ABOUT
2019 First Prize Urbanautica Institute Awards Category Space, Architecture & Conflicts. 2019 her work was published in a trilogy of books „The Red Utopias“, Editions Essarter. She did several residencies, 2019 SÅM Lessinia, 2017 Kaunas Photography Gallery, 2016 Lukas Künstlerhaus, Ahrenshoop and NCCA, Kaliningrad. 2018 she received the Project’s Scholarship ‘Mach den Kiosk 2018 Herr Fleischer e.V.‘‚ in Halle (Saale). Since 2020, she is member of Pilote Contemporary Berlin.
STATEMENT
My work deals with the construction and representation of the memory of a place. I choose sites that are transformed, in danger of disappearing, or being forgotten – for example the city of Königsberg/Kaliningrad, an abandoned military reserve. Their redevelopment, reconstruction, destruction and/or appropriation are focal points of my research.
By identifying and decontextualizing remains of the past, and by modifying and restoring sites, I use found materials to build ephemeral installations and photograph them. By association, the photographs and the installations deal with the notion of disappearance, and the precariousness of the balance between what endures and what is lost. The aim of this approach is to question the image of the perception of a place, situated somewhere between reality, memory and poetry.
Photo: Ina Schoenenburg
We asked ...
What role do unrealized projects play in your artistic practice?
I have many unrealized projects. My work comes from a mixture between an instinctive vision and rigorously thought-out ideas. I always need time after the projects are realized to publish them. I have to think again where this idea came from and why I realized it. I write a concept. Sometimes I think it through completely or how I could realize it differently. Many don't make it through this testing phase.
How has the situation of the last months changed your artistic work?
Because of current events, I had to stay at home with my family and I could not realize installations that physically require time and concentration. It was hard because they are an important part of my work process. I had to learn how to realize something quickly and with many other events around me. I started other works (for example with a camera obscura). But I find it enriching to question my own artistic practice.
What does failure mean for your artistic work?
Failure is part of the creative process. It is a kind of inner struggle: doubts and questioning always accompany me during my artistic process. Often unrealized works gain a meaning for later works. Without having tried them, other works would not have been created. But the realization brings other ideas. Or I experience that it is simply not possible.
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