Martin Walde | Open Borders | Martin Walde and Jens Asthoff (page 3)


		Open Borders \| Martin Walde and Jens Asthoff

		continued from page 2

terms:		It's probably the most flexible, the most casual as a work – but also one people react to most.
Der Duft der verblühenden Alpenrose
	p. 1	Is that a basic idea for you, fitting works out with that kind of freedom?
Enactments	p. 1, 2, 5, 6	Not that I would want to create series using similar forms or ideas. Every phenomenon is subject to different factors and management strategies that you have to develop specifically, so that they work. And it is always about several aspects at the same time: Tie or Untie for example was about getting over the fact that works sometimes become aggression victims. This work signals a flexible, sensitive structure that is indestructible.
Loosing Control	p. 1, 2, 5, 6
Wormcomplex	p. 2, 3, 4
The Invisible Line	p. 2, 4
The Big Perch	p. 2, 5
Tie or Untie	p. 2, 3, 4	And does that crop up in other works as well? I'm thinking of Green Gel, for instance.
Green Gel	p. 3	It's an amorphous mass, and so suggests formlessness, and that is certainly an aspect. But things vary. Firstly, the work is very sensitive in terms of colour and also of structure. After a while, both change because of creeping loss of liquid, and the mass solidifies. And besides, it is not so lethargic: no one sees any difference in the ropes, but if someone starts touching Green Gel it immediately signals an irreversible change. There's a kind of destruction or change here that suddenly introduces different implications. That doesn't happen with the ropes. And that's why the mass is prepared fresh for every exhibition.
Shrinking Bottles / Melting Bottles
	p. 3
Jelly Soap	p. 3, 9
Handmates	p. 3, 9
The Tea Set	p. 3
Fridgerose	p. 3
Clips of Slips	p. 6	Green Gel is also a good example of the way you handle colour, which you often use in a very simply intended but powerful way. This applies to the green light cone in Wormcomplex or the red one in Shrinking Bottles / Melting Bottles, to Jelly Soap or the Handmates. Some spaces are completely bathed in coloured light, it was blue for The Tea Set, and the typical washed-out green again for Fridgerose ...
NOFF #1	p. 7, 8
NOFF #2	p. 7, 8
NOFF #3	p. 7, 8
NOFF #4	p. 7, 8
Siamese Shadow	p. 8	Yes, colour is always addressed, and this produces quite specific meanings. I am interested in this above all in terms of ambivalent effect and perception, and that applies to green in particular: green stands for nature, for life, health and so on, but there are certain shades that are seen as toxic. One particular shade of green always stands for poison, nuclear radiation, aliens or something like that. It all started with fantasies about men from Mars. I found it interesting with Green Gel to link the toxic green with a material that stands precisely between liquid and solid – which triggers some ambivalent feelings as such. Here it is not clear whether the feelings are positive or negative, it depends on the surroundings. The work has existed since 1989, and I have shown it in a variety of contexts. Green Gel is a phenomenon because it isn't anything itself, it has no identity. That is very strange.
Concoctions	p. 8
Liquid Dispenser	p. 8






authors:
Jens Asthoff
Martin Walde			(continued on next page)