"For the exhibition CLAY!, curated by Karen Friis Herbsleb, I realised the installation ‘Skinned’ in 4 adjoining rooms of Museum Jorn in Silkeborg, Denmark. First I laid a skin made of wool soaked in a mixture of clay slip, iron-oxide and glue over the 10 tons of clay, which were deposited on the floor of the first room. During my performance on the opening night, the partly hardened skin was stripped off the clay and carried to the third room, where it was put down on the floor and so became part of the installation. The now skinned clay was highly sensitised, as if it were living flesh, a sensation that was accentuated by the red iron-oxide with which the clay was flooded. During daily performances, beginning on the opening night and continuing the following week, I shaped the clay, using my whole body, which was followed by the making of an imprint on linen fabric of the traces my body left behind. These large imprints, 5 m x 3.20 m, were hung, superimposed over one another, in the space adjacent to the clay space. In the fourth space the film made by Jérémie Basset of the project ‘Under Ground’ (2016,) was screened."

 

Photos: Liedeke Kruk. With support of the Mondriaan Fund.