Simona Brinkmann’s 2018 residency at The Art House has been both an experimentation with new materials and a reconfiguration or expansion of previous works. Brinkmann’s sculptural practice repositions familiar objects and materials, readdressing or questioning their intended context and connotations. Using focused time in the studios and constructing pieces at offsite welding workshops, she furthered her research into materials such as metal, strobes, and anti-climb paint to revisit previous practice and projects.
Much of Brinkmann’s practice considers the role of objects in mediating space, specifically the power structures or inequalities present within it. Through consideration of the different elements of her sculpture as technologies capable of enabling, dissuading, or preventing people and bodies from negotiating a space, their inherent inconsistencies can be unravelled.
In heightening our awareness of the objects, themselves over their functions, they become fetishised, their original purposes superseded by our interpretation. Brinkmann’s use of ponyskin, rubber sheeting and cord emphasises this effect, revealing the levels of sensuality or physicality of otherwise seemingly impersonal objects.
On a formal level, Brinkmann refers to her process of making sculpture as a way of composing music. She uses items such as metal handrails as a structured beat or rhythm to underpin the work, onto which are placed more dynamic materials: rope, leather and latex.
Simona Brinkmann was artist in residence at The Art House from the 1 – 31 March 2018.
