Publisher's Synopsis
STRETCH is a comprehensive retrospective of work by artist Alexandra Bircken, showing both early and new pieces.A fundamental parameter of her work is experimentation with materials, with the body as a key point of departure. Her multi-layered, meticulously-constructed sculptures explore skin as covering, as an organ and a cellular structure, but also as a boundary between inside and outside.Materials used in her objects are notable for their strikingly diverse, often contradictory qualities: plaster models, waxes, mannequin fragments and pieces of clothing stand in for body parts; structures packed with wool are used as set pieces and interwoven with one another.Published on the occasion of the exhibition, Alexandra Bircken: STRETCH at Kunstverein Hannover (1 October - 27 November 2016); Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach (26 March - 25 June 2017); and Centre d'artcontemporain d'Ivry - le Crédac (8 September - 17 December 2017).English and German text.
