Hannah Parr x Isabelle Graeff: Interactions 6

The exhibit Interactions 6 is opening today at the SEXAUER Showroom in Berlin. 

Interactions 6 juxtaposes objects by Hannah Parr with a photograph by Isabelle Graeff. 

Chequer Island by Hannah Parr is a giant chess set made of Dominican oak. In the district of Villa Consuelo in Santo Domingo, craftsmen frenetically produce replicas of baroque furniture from at-home workshops. The results often feature distinctly incongruous proportions. Parr’s chessmen consist of remnants of these replicas. In her chess installation, Parr transforms the “can do” attitude of the craftsmen. Fliptych can be seen as both a bathroom cabinet and tool cabinet. The interior panels of the cabinet are mosaicked with cut wood barrier slats. In front stand two figures in the form of hairdressing stools that simultaneously flip their hair back and forth, suggesting that, at any moment, we can change direction. Both works acknowledge the small yet essential processes of self-renovation. 

The C-print by Isabelle Graeff is related to a video installation at SEXAUER in Weißensee, where three pregnant women recite Max Planck, who postulates that there is no matter per se, only spirit. Nowhere do spirit and physicality come together as much as in childbirth. Blood, placenta, amniotic fluid—and also a new spirit—look out onto the world. 

Hannah Parr and Isabelle Graeff transform the connection between material and action, substance and psyche, spirit and world into very different works of art.