Wanda Sebastian
„Sometimes I feel a little bit pink in my head“, 2008
polysterol, paint
„Sometimes I feel a little pink in my head”
On entering a staircase, we often just expect prosaic matter-of-factness. Even the narrow stairway in the tower of the historic Rheinkontor with its saddle roof offers only few interesting elements that go beyond functionality. All the more surprising is the sudden encounter that awaits the visitor when s/he walks up the stairs to the first floor. Rising from the floor, between the lift and the passage to the southern tract, there is a system of interconnected bright white Styrofoam tubes all the way to the ceiling. Stacked like wooden logs, the longish tubes, made of the light material used for packaging and insulation, support each other and thus form a stable expansive installation. The loose diagonal stacking of the polysterole cuboids form gaps which lend the construction airiness and add volume. Bright pink shines forth from inside some cubes, oscillates in daylight that comes in through the windows with glazing bars. Even in the prosaic light of the neon tubes, the stacking is colourfully illuminated from inside. The large work continues on the next floor; when we walk to the floor above it, we realise that the three-dimensional spatial intervention is merely briefly interrupted by the ceiling. While at the bottom area it is characterised by an energetic confusion in its arrangement, the installation develops – seemingly through the ceiling – into an increasing order. Going down, we get the reverse impression: of a slow gradual bursting apart. The Styrofoam elements here break out of their order, lying askew, which however does not compromise the stability of the whole construction. The interplay of schematic clarity and breaking out, solidity and fragility, transparency and density, thus adds up to a “pink feeling”.
Anne Mager
Vita
| 1976 | Geboren / born in Herdecke |
| 1998 | Steinmetz- und Steinbildhauerpraktikum / internship as stone mason and stone sculptor |
| 1999-01 | Steinmetz-und Steinbildhauerlehre / apprenticehip as stone mason and stone sculptor. Erhalt des Gesellenbriefes / certificate of apprenticeship |
| 2002-06 | Studium an der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf bei Prof. Hubert Kiecol / Studies at the Academy of Arts, Prof. Hubert Kiecol, Düsseldorf |
Exhibitions and Grants
| 2004 | „Airport Art“, Frankfurt a.M.; „NO.1“, Maschinenhalle Tor 2, Essen |
| 2006 | „Das letzte Wort der Kunst“, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; „Wir waren mal Freunde gewesen“, Gloria Halle, Düsseldorf |
| 2007 | „MBY“, Lepsien Art Forum, Atelierstipendium / studio schoolarship, Düsseldorf-Rath |
| 2008 | „Girls never cry in the moonlight“. ELA, Düsseldorf; „Mousseux et dames“, Atelierstipendium / studio schoolarship, Düsseldorf-Rath |