Author(s): Monika Bayer-Wermuth (Editor)

CONTEMPORARY ART | HATJE CANTZ

The title seems to announce a comprehensive encyclopedia: from A as in "additive" to Z as in "zircon," each and every object or material has the potential to become an element in one of Alexandra Bircken's fascinating objects or installations. Whether it's packing materials, machine parts, or bones, everything finds a use-organic and 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, in which we are as much at its mercy as we are dependent upon it. This catalogue is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of Bircken's sculptural work from all phases of her career; here, they enter into a dialogue that tracks the artist's multilayered statements about the surface, the body, movement, husk, and skin.Texts by: Marie-Luise Angerer, Monika Bayer-Wermuth, Kirsty Bell, Hans-Christian Dany, Sebastian Hackenschmidt, T'ai Smith