Werkbox, Direktorenhaus

A new edition of Handwerk is exhibiting in Berlin at Direktorenhaus, a new space in an old building, "The Director’s House, (dating) back to when the building was part of the State Mint in Berlin-Mitte. Built in 1935, the wing’s well secured vault was used during World War II not just to store minted coins, but also to protect the art works of the State Museums of Berlin from the threat of bomb damage."



I'm showing thirty boxes, along with other artists supplementing an exhibit by Olaf Hajek. Working towards a bigger show of my work there in September. The premise of Direktorenhaus is interesting, that of a Gesamtkunstwerk. More on this later. The boxed variant pieces have grown, with markmaking of granular character. Both to magnify surface and to dispense with textual information in favour of something mute.



Similarly, interlockables have been added, with continued trials of inlay.



The boxes before shipping. A detail of the box label, a surface work replacing the only text on the first edition. I'm trying to get at a lack of instruction, a muffled play as stated at the outset of this project. The woodwormish, red-green rag motif is something of an optical zoom, pulling one closer to the MDF Kraft Ply Laminate and inside the box.



It's carried through to a bar of laminate hardboard. The material, that of the damp cupboard back. A slab of kitchen strata. Also mindful of Susan Kare's Macpaint palette, as discussed previously here, out of Rob Giampietro's burst of inspiring writing.



And latterly, currently, Dust: a book by Joseph A. Amato.







This edition extended beyond the set of thirty for Direktorenhaus. There are more available for distribution on inquiry.