Hong Kong
14 / 05 / 14 – 18 / 05 / 14
"In Confinement My Desolate Mind Desires"
Works from left to right: Modulor I (2014), Sepulchre (2014) and Impunities (2012).
Kaabi-Linke’s works employing painting, printmaking and sculpture, reflect the breadth of her practice. The central work of the presentation Modulor (2014) takes its name from an anthropocentric scale invented by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. Based on human measurements, Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio, Corbusier described the scale to be a “range of harmonious measurements to suit the human scale, universally applicable to architecture and to mechanical things” Based on these studies, most of modern design is created. Using the same anthropocentric scale as a base, Kaabi-Linke researched the minimum measurements of prison cells of several countries all over the world and proposes to create Modulor (2014), a dimensional space installation using metal strips that reconstruct these prison cells within the booth. Almost like a minimal line drawing, this work attempts to experientially put the viewer with the confines of a claustrophobic prison cell and thereby possibly reflect on the psychological and physical impact such spaces have on people and the scientific rational for creating such enclosures.
Another work, titled Sepulchre (2013-2014) is a continuation of Kaabi-Linke’s ongoing interest in taking impressions off wall surfaces from cities to depict their skins. The work is a life sized recreation of a gravestone in Berlin located on a site that has witnessed heavy fighting during the War and therefore one that has been extensively damaged during its course. By taking an impression from the gravestone, Kaabi-Linke delves into her belief that strife and violence do not spare even the departed and the bodily confined and that within that confinement too lies unrest. At a conceptual level, the work is constructed with strong reference to Raphael's Transfiguration (1516-1520) in a complex interpretation of the conflict between mysticism and dogmatism.
Ripped (2013) is a series of fine almost invisible hair impressions on paper, that talk about the strains we put on relationships and the tribulations of coexistence in everyday life.
Impunities (2012) is a continuation of a unique form of printmaking that Kaabi-Linke has been exploring over the years. Using forensic techniques, Kaabi-Linke has taken bodily impressions of wounds and scars from women who have been subjected to domestic violence through a series of in depth interviews during her Gasworks residency in London. These impressions are transferred onto a series of 26 glass panels that contemplate the darkness behind the seemingly transparent and normal relationships that we are conditioned to portray. Developed over months through personal interviews and impression making with abused women, married and otherwise, Impunities, London reflects on the confinement and suppression that social stigma, abusive relationships, and gender inequalities enforce on women, all over the world.
Another work, titled Sepulchre (2013-2014) is a continuation of Kaabi-Linke’s ongoing interest in taking impressions off wall surfaces from cities to depict their skins. The work is a life sized recreation of a gravestone in Berlin located on a site that has witnessed heavy fighting during the War and therefore one that has been extensively damaged during its course. By taking an impression from the gravestone, Kaabi-Linke delves into her belief that strife and violence do not spare even the departed and the bodily confined and that within that confinement too lies unrest. At a conceptual level, the work is constructed with strong reference to Raphael's Transfiguration (1516-1520) in a complex interpretation of the conflict between mysticism and dogmatism.
Ripped (2013) is a series of fine almost invisible hair impressions on paper, that talk about the strains we put on relationships and the tribulations of coexistence in everyday life.
Impunities (2012) is a continuation of a unique form of printmaking that Kaabi-Linke has been exploring over the years. Using forensic techniques, Kaabi-Linke has taken bodily impressions of wounds and scars from women who have been subjected to domestic violence through a series of in depth interviews during her Gasworks residency in London. These impressions are transferred onto a series of 26 glass panels that contemplate the darkness behind the seemingly transparent and normal relationships that we are conditioned to portray. Developed over months through personal interviews and impression making with abused women, married and otherwise, Impunities, London reflects on the confinement and suppression that social stigma, abusive relationships, and gender inequalities enforce on women, all over the world.