This project was funded by the “Neustart plus” grant of the Kunstfonds / Neustart Kultur of the BKM.

“Thinking reeds” in the post-truth era

Curved laminated safety glass (100 X 300 cm, 6 pieces)

Installation size : 400 X 800 cm

Curved laminated safety glass, Wax cast in reeds, ramie fibres dyed in reed flower’ natural dye,

mouth blown glass base, metal funnel, funnel made of wax, ramie bundle, beeswax, acrylic paint on glass, pigment, mouth blown glass windows

An installation that extends found objects with transformed plant, mineral and animal materials. Long panes of Securit glass are balanced horizontally on slender bases of blown glass. These transparent plates, curved by their own weight, generate waves of glass that are cracked in some places. They press down on the plants like a herbarium when the small pedestals burst. Reeds extended by funnels are filled with beeswax until they overflow.

The resistance of each material has been tested with hope, in the image of the reed that “bends but does not break”. For the philosopher Pascal, “man is a thinking reed”, but his conscience is no less sorely challenged in the age of post-truth. The physical force-feeding of the planet’s soil and its inhabitants is depleting the vital and spiritual resources of the living world. The saturation and misinformation that has broken the link between immanence and transcendence is evoked in this memento-mori.