Exhibition // Kate Steciw’s ACTIFE PLASSITY

Berlin Art Link Features, Art Work by Kate Steciw

Kate Steciw – Installation view of “Actife Plassity” (2014); courtesy of Neumeister Bar-Am

Kate Steciw‘s works in her newest solo show at Neumeister Bar-Am are sculptures that use photographic collages as base material. She manipulates different shards and structures that both lie flat on the walls and jut into the viewing space. One assemblage has wheels, another has a red plastic chain connecting it to the white wall, and several of the objects have frame corners that serve to activate the images, more than their brilliance in color can.

Kate Steciw – Installation view of “Actife Plassity” (2014); courtesy of Neumeister Bar-Am

The basis of these pieces are stock photos that are fractured and rearranged into abstracted patterns. Upon closer inspection, the images are detailed shots of what looks to be crepes, sunglasses, machinery, clay vases, and raw salmon. There is no clear connection between the objects in these images, other than that Steciw has chosen them.

In the gallery context, these photos have transformed how we perceive them. We would probably ignore these images if they were in the front window of a store or market, but these power-clashing collages now have a decided presence.

From our fragmented view, we can imagine and project meanings onto these images. The white vases could easily be eggs, the light skin of the crepes could be mistaken as human skin, perhaps a pair of legs bent to kneel. But in reality, it’s a photo of water, flour and dairy whisked and browned on a griddle. Our imaginations are tested and, in some way, rejected with these images. As we look closer, searching for meaning, we are confronted with the realization that instead, it’s about the photos transforming into a new, unconventional medium.

Kate Steciw – Installation view of “Actife Plassity” (2014); courtesy of Neumeister Bar-Am
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