Karsten Födinger
Void

For the show Void, Karsten Födinger (°1978, Mönchengladbach) has realized a new, ephemeral sculpture specifically for the central dome room. Like his previous site-specific pieces, this architectural installation refers, both in the construction and engineering and in the use of unpolished and functional materials, to the building sector and its basic industrial typologies. The form of the architectural installation in steel bars suggests the reinforcements of a bridge pier. Födinger filtered this element from an urban reality and reinterpreted it in a personal and performative creative process.

As such, the work’s meaning is generated both in the process of its physical realization and in its formal appearance. Starting from a subtle analysis of the exhibition space, the artist – as if combining the parts of client, architect and contractor – set up the sculpture himself, following certain construction principles. The reinforcing steel, that is normally covered in pouring concrete, is left visible as a structural basis. As on an improvised construction site, concrete board and ‘rebars’ dominate the exhibition space: the ‘unfinished’ construction fills the entire hemicycle room and exudes an impressive, sensual presence.

As hinted at by the show’s title, the sculpture not only functions through its self-evident materiality, but just as much through the emptiness and transparency that come with it. The result is an unfilled mould that is based precisely on an imaginary functionality and – situated somewhere in between stability and instability – offers up space for a subjective viewer experience.

The exhibition by Karsten Födinger was made possible with the support of Staalbeton NV. KIOSK wishes to express its gratitude to lenders Mu.ZEE Ostend, University College Ghent and Dirk De Meyer.

exhibition text / press release / poster