Since the early 2000s, Katinka Bock has been developing a sculptural practice closely bound up with questions of space, time, and material. Her sculptures and installations are made from materials such as clay, stone, wood, copper, bronze and cloth and result from simple gestures, directly legible in the form or on the surface of the work: folding, wrapping, moulding, marking, making an imprint, finding a balance, falling, etc. Often, they involve physical processes such as heat, evaporation, energy flow and the alteration of materials confronted with the external environment.
A major part of the forms created by Katinka Bock are borrowed, either directly or through such processes as casting or making impressions, from the everyday environment: the household space, the studio, the natural world and the urban context. Katinka Bock’s oeuvre has a horizontal and porous relation with reality: “It comes from the life one has, and art always remains in life, it is a contribution to life”, she explains. Associated with simple forms – lines, arcs, cylinders, cubes –, these elements compose a vocabulary from which she develops her exhibitions.
This conversation will address some of the notions that are at the core of Katinka Bock’s practice, including materials, time, processes, gestures, body, and the porosity of the exhibition space. It will also explore lesser-discussed aspects of her work, including her publications and her photographic practice.
Katinka Bock (1976, Frankfurt-am-Main) has held solo exhibitions at institutions such as Couvent des Jacobins – Le Printemps de Septembre (2021), Pivô, Lafayette Anticipations (2019), Kunst Museum Winterthur, Mudam Luxembourg and IAC Villeurbanne (2018). In 2022, she will present a solo exhibition at La Loge, Brussels. She lives and works in Paris.
Katinka Bock will be in conversation with the Forms of Life research group.
Forms of Life is developed by Tina Gillen, Artist, Teacher and Researcher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Christophe Gallois, Curator, Head of Exhibitions at Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, and a group of students of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, in collaboration with Mudam Luxemboug.
(image: Katinka Bock, For your eyes (building bridges), detail, 2021, Courtesy of the artist)