Texte
Dr. Anette Naumann, August 2013
Cordula Prieser creates imaginary spaces. Their interlaced framework of wood or aluminium bands covered partially with coloured fabric, become bungalows of a special kind, whose functions are not easily grasped. Their proximity to architecture is obvious: the constructions of airy modules open on several sides, build interior spaces that converge with the surroundings in an osmotic exchange. The title for one of the smaller sized series, »shared spaces«, refers to the organisation of a structure with several sections as well as the social sharing of a particular room. Furthermore, the term conveys the dual aspect of her work: the sober formal aesthetics underlayed by a meaning resonating subtly. For whom are the spaces designed? What happens inside of them? In »shared spaces« two different forms penetrate each other: a coloured polymorphous body covered with knitted yarn and a cuboid one. The range of interpretation is wide. Speaking philosophically, the transparent cube could represent the abstract notion of space as the »universal container of all things«, whereas the coloured figure would be one of these things contained. Seen from a geometrical angle, there is the conflict that »a« cannot be on the same spot as »b«, but it evidently is. One might think of the transgression of our common co-ordinate system towards multidimensional space. In terms of biological evolution the figure of more complex organisation could be interpreted as an advancement of the monocellular corpus out of which it is emerging. From a psychological viewpoint, you see an individual constrained in limited environments struggling to exceed its boundaries. These room-within-a-room constructions contain a multilayered system of references in a complex relationship between inside and outside, subject and object. The topic of »shared spaces« is equally approached in her bigger sculptures like »Aero Playing« or »half wall half door«, which seem to blast the space they hold. Similarly for the spectator, the autonomous design of the sculptures gain impact by widening into the surrounding space which becomes affected by it. The inside and outside of things, ultimately interdependent, occupy the mind of Cordula Prieser persistently. Whereas former objects have a skinlike cover made of paper or painted metal gauze, here the elements of construction, being only partially covered, are layed bare so as to give the feeling of both conditions simultaneously. As if the artist wanted to query the architectural components, she works with the void fields between construction bands as transitory items: what does it take to define an element such as a wall, a base or a ceiling? Under what circumstances does an opening becomes a window, a door, a passage or a tunnel? The interior spaces created by one’s imagination are not definite: permeable, ambiguous, bottomless, contorted, stretched or compressed, they question the building physics as well as the viewpoint of the beholder. Precisely for this reason (the irritation and ambivalence) the observation of Cordula Prieser’s work is so stimulating; walking imaginatively through the small scale sculptures and de facto entering the larger ones, give you an intense sensation of sensuous and intellectual pleasure. The coloured walls reminiscent of Bauhaus architecture gain through their rounded corners and knitted fabric a connotation of warmth and corporeality, inviting the spectator to reflect on basic questions about the creation of physical spaces. Like seeing the residues of an ancient civilisation or the buildings of a future one of which you have no knowledge, you are inspired to explore the living conditions of these poetic and diaphanous spaces.
Translation: Dr. Anette Naumann