Kai Schiemenz
PRIEL
12 September – 9 November 2024
Quick look into the exhibition by Kai Schiemenz // Galerie EIGEN + ART Berlin, 2024
Music: Paul Ott
Interview with Kai Schiemenz about the show
EIGEN + ART: Last year, you published a catalog titled “Priel”. To what degree is this exhibition based on the concepts described in this catalog, and how have you further developed them substantively?
Kai Schiemenz: The word “Priel” is used in German to describe a narrow channel in a mudflat created by the tides. It is sometimes visible at low tide, but then at high tide perceptible only as a current under the surface of the sea. Such tideways are out-flushings from continuously branching, meandering river courses. In the first place, this is an image I like: a river that flows into the sea and takes on a new character because of the moon and its gravity. My work with glass is similar. Here I altered my work method, and with it the parameters and the emerging artwork. In this sense, the title of the exhibition is programmatic and a continuation of what is inherent in the catalog “Priel”.
E+A: You mention the material, glass, with which you have long worked and that is very present here, as well. This time, you have brought it into novel forms placed on pedestals that are themselves powerfully expressive. What led to this change in your works, and what does that mean to you?
Kai Schiemenz: The new sculptures are blown from glass, unlike my earlier works, which were usually cast in glass. Although they are made of the same material, they look entirely new. Maybe the change in my method can be compared to a cross-country skier who decides to shift to the downhill discipline, maybe because he is bored, maybe because he wants to try out something new and expand his experience. Downhill skiing is thereby much faster, and the time before he arrives at the bottom is quite short. It’s similar with glass-blowing: the speed of implementation is quite different from when you cast glass, which often takes months. In addition, I have little experience with this new work method, which entails certain freedoms. I did things that are normally avoided. I did that out of ignorance and to avoid the logic of production. Maybe that’s not rational. But rationality isn’t everything, after all.
E+A: The sculptures that result seem to be greatly influenced by chance. And viewers can hardly judge their weight, for example. How would you describe the result for yourself?
Kai Schiemenz:: Unpredictable! When casting glass, the model is essential and a fundamental part of the work. When blowing glass, the occasion is what’s important. The essence of the sculpture is now the process, which emerges through the rapid sequence of decisions. If “Priel” is a flushing out, then I would supplement this comparison with the motion on the water in a delta. If I sail on a ship toward the sea, I have to make a new decision at every branching of the river delta. I can take the right or the left branch on my way to the sea. It’s similar when producing a sculpture: whether I take the right-hand or the left-hand branch, ultimately I reach the sea, unless I get stuck in a swamp. The timbre and tonality changes at every branching. First it grumbles, then it crackles and acts mean, later, in turn, it turns shy and reserved
E+A: You describe how the glass artworks begin to speak in this new context. What kind of communication do you engage in with the materials of the other sculptures? In what relation do they stand to each other?
Kai Schiemenz:: The beginning for this exhibition were the sculptures of blown glass. In their production, models in Styrofoam, negative forms in sheet steel, and various derivatives were left over. Fragments that became sculptures in their turn and that stand in relation to the rest. Pieces of Styrofoam with holes, cylinders lying on unsuccessful casting attempts. For me, this is a landscape consisting of experiments – a very romantic idea.
