Birgit Werres

Birgit Werres can work magic, she succeeds in transforming a simple wire into a sweeping line in space, in uniting a tangle of lashing straps into the dynamic and complex interplay of forms, colours and textures of a cotton net. Playful and rigorous at once, her works unfold a dynamism in space that can be associated with the abundance of movement of the Baroque just as readily as with a minimalist decision that seeks to dispense with everything unnecessary and trusts in the possibilities of the material. Since the 1990s the artist has roamed streets, building sites, industrial wastelands, factories and production plants in search of materials for her sculptures and wall objects. In the past such sites were still an El Dorado for the procurement of materials. Today, in the age of recycling, they sometimes resemble high-security wings, as the artist remarked in conversation only recently. She herself practises recycling of an entirely different kind: metals, plastics, containers, wire and “stuff” – all of it finds its way into her work in the studio. They are eloquent relics of production, remnants bearing traces of use, as minimalist as they are beautiful, assembled by Birgit Werres into objects in space. Everything carries a history within it and can at the same time become something new in a new place.

Exhibitions:
Kunstverein Heilbronn, 1/2 – 28/6/2020
Kunstverein Schwäbisch-Hall, 5/7 –6/9/2020
Märkisches Museum Witten, 17/3 – 29/8/2021
Lokremise St. Gallen, 5/2 – 7/8/2022