Alexandra Bircken: A-Z

Everything is an element in Alexandra Birckens' sculptures, which explore the human body's relationship to the environment. This catalog provides a comprehensive overview of her practice from all creative periods.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 29 July 2021
Publisher: Hatje Cantz

From A to Z, every object or material has the potential to become an element in Alexandra Birckens' charged objects and installations. Whether it's packaging materials, machine parts, or bones, everything finds a use - the organic as well as the inorganic, raw materials and industrially produced goods. The constant reference point in her artistic explorations is the human body and its contradictory relationship to the environment, as defenselessly at its mercy as it is dependent on it.

This catalogue is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of Birckens sculptural practice from all creative periods, which here enter into a dialogue that explores the artist's multi-layered statements on surface, body, movement, shell, and skin.

Birckens' work challenges the boundaries between art and everyday life, blurring the lines between the natural and the artificial, and the organic and the manufactured. She explores the complex relationships between humans and their environment, questioning the ways in which we interact with and manipulate our surroundings.

Through her sculptures, Birckens creates a sense of ambiguity and tension, inviting viewers to engage with the work on multiple levels. She uses a range of materials, including plastic, metal, and wood, to create her sculptures, which often have a surreal and otherworldly quality.

One of the key themes in Birckens' work is the concept of the "skin," which she explores in both her sculptural and photographic practice. She examines the ways in which the skin is used as a protective barrier, but also as a site of vulnerability and intimacy.

In her sculptural installations, Birckens often creates large-scale works that are site-specific, responding to the particular environment in which they are installed. She has created installations in public spaces, museums, and private collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Birckens' work has been widely recognized and celebrated, and she has received numerous awards and commissions throughout her career. She is considered one of the most important contemporary artists working today, and her influence can be seen in the work of many other artists and designers.

In conclusion, Alexandra Birckens' sculptural practice is a rich and complex exploration of the human body, the environment, and the relationship between the two. Through her use of a range of materials and techniques, she creates works that are both visually stunning and thought-provoking, challenging viewers to engage with the world in new and unexpected ways.

Weight: 1404g
Dimension: 247 x 303 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783775750424