Take 1
Autumn 2011
“Ashl” hook (Arakawa Hanging Systems) in stainless steel, acrylic glass, “Kristall-Klar” adhesive tape (Tesa), stainless steel, tempered steel, felt pad
Overall dimensions: 190.5 × 66.5 × 9 cm
Case dimensions: 99.5 × 66.5 × 7 cm
Fabrication and technical support (acrylic glass case): Horst Fischer GmbH, Gundelfingen, Germany
What first emerges is a rectangular case of acrylic glass (89 × 65 × 6 cm), suspended by two cables. One end is fastened to the wall with a nail, the other concealed inside the box and finished with a sliding hook, holding the structure in subtle tension. The whole recalls the vitrines where fragile treasures or untouchable relics are displayed. By its proportions, one might almost imagine it as the frame for an unseen painting.
Yet behind this apparent neutrality lies a subverted function: the hooks do not merely support, they guard. Silent triggers of an alarm, they stand watch, ready to react to the slightest absence. Here, protection doubles itself — armour and vigilance entwined.
And yet — the paradox — nothing is truly there to be protected. No painting, no object set apart for safekeeping. What ought to contain and to alert stands orphaned of its cause. Defence becomes spectacle, the frame its own declaration.
From this point, another reading unfolds: perhaps absence itself is the true presence. The missing painting is affirmed by the very void it leaves behind. The cables and hooks magnify this phantom, raising it to the status of ultimate object.
The work becomes a closed circle, a mirror unto itself. It protects only in order to exist, and what it preserves is none other than its own power of preservation. The case becomes a cuirass, the hooks its sentinels. The guardian becomes the treasure, the protector the protected. In this play of reflections, the line between object and safeguard dissolves, and the paradoxical pact closes in perfect symmetry.
K.L.
Take 2
Autumn 2011
“Ashl” hook (Arakawa Hanging Systems) in stainless steel, acrylic glass, “Kristall-Klar” adhesive tape (Tesa), stainless steel, tempered steel, felt pad
Overall dimensions: 190.5 × 66.5 × 9 cm
Case dimensions: 99.5 × 66.5 × 7 cm
Fabrication and technical support (acrylic glass case): Horst Fischer GmbH, Gundelfingen, Germany
Extract 1
Autumn 2011
“Ashl” hook (Arakawa Hanging Systems) in stainless steel, acrylic glass, “Kristall-Klar” adhesive tape (Tesa), stainless steel, tempered steel, felt pad
Overall dimensions: 190.5 × 66.5 × 9 cm
Case dimensions: 99.5 × 66.5 × 7 cm
Fabrication and technical support (acrylic glass case): Horst Fischer GmbH, Gundelfingen, Germany