Artist talk with Kirstin Burckhardt

August 21, 2020

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About her drawing series "gorge" (2020)

as part of the show "CoNTACT, ways of distance & touch"

6 - 23 August 2020, HAUNT Berlin

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»GORGE«: AN IN-BETWEEN, AMBIVALENT PLACE OF CONNECTION AND EMPTINESS

by Daniela von Damaros

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In her works, which are very versatile in terms of media, Kirstin Burckhardt always illuminates the definition of the body with a focus on an interspace. In the encounter of the self with the outside, with fellow human beings and social circumstances, the artist draws attention to the fragility of mechanisms of opening and demarcation. In the drawing series “gorge” the artist focuses on such in-between spaces as an ambivalent place of connection and emptiness. The clear line, as a symbol for body boundary and skin, and more abstractly for definition and the visible, dissolves into particles. The resulting forms, which are perceptible as virus clouds in their structure and in their dynamics of exchange, but also in their association, make visible what remains invisible in between: Emotions, such as the fear of closeness, insecurity and uncertainty. At the same time, the particles indicate a space of connection, of gentle touches, for example through eye contact, compassion and communication.

Published as part of the exhibition "CoNTACT – ways of distance and touch" (at frontviews, Berlin, 2020) curated by Daniela von Damaros

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