String Figures (Bird Bath)

Installation view at NADA New York 2024

The sculpture consists of multiple ceramic parts that are tied together and strapped to the pedestal using silicon straps which are connected to each other with fasteners. The main parts of the sculpture are forms of unglazed white entangled bands of ceramics that are nested in each other. Smaller forms are suspended within bigger pieces. Two ceramic birds are strapped to the top of the sculpture and a flower is nested as a heart inside the upper half. The shapes created by the ceramic bands and silicone straps are, although ornamental, determined by structural necessities.
The white ceramics and silicone straps, though different in property and function, can only be told apart on closer look, lending the unglazed ceramics a trompe-l’oeil quality.
I often work with both materials- ceramics and silicone- they interest me because of their transformative and indexical qualities: Heat transforms ceramic from a soft, unstable, malleable into a stable, enduring material. Silicone is, once two liquid components are mixed and cured, both flexible and particularly resistant.
Conceptually the sculpture developed out of the research I conducted on knots, string figures, networks, connectivity, ecosystems, and interspecies solidarity for a lecture performance I gave at the TEDxCUNY Conference in April 2024.
While the sculpture speaks to entanglement and connected systems, to interwoven functionalities and interdependencies, it can adapt to the environment it is shown in. The straps and fasteners allow for parts of the sculpture to be exchanged, added, or taken away.
The top of the sculpture can be filled with sand to draw shapes in or with water, serving as a bird bath. The sculpture houses a plant in the middle part that can be exchanged for a different plan or a ceramic one. The pedestal contains exchangeable elements- the ones pictured allow insects to nest in. I like the idea that my sculpture can, depending on context and space also be enjoyed by non- human city dwellers like insects and birds and so be a small contribution to a larger system and community.