Kristina Matousch, You Take My Breath Away, performance, site-specific installation

The exhibition emanates from a large white cube installed in the gallery. During the opening night, a performance will activate the work. The white cube is in itself a concept for presenting art – an aesthetic introduced in the early 20th century as a response to the increasing abstraction of modern art. In Matousch’s new work You Take My Breath Away, a pressure is built up inside the cube with the help of air. Through the making of holes from the inside of the sculpture, the artist creates an outlet for the pressure. The wall objects – Bullet Meat Head – are unique castings of handmade meatballs in a 1:1 scale, a result of a traditional household chore. They appear in two “teams” on the gallery walls.

In previous works such as Bake (2018), Meat Balls (2014), All around (2014) and Take it in your hand (2000), Matousch uses “real” food as a means of communicating with the viewer. The viewer’s physical encounter with the work becomes an essential part of the overall experience. In You Take My Breath Away, the food may be seen as something abstract, almost alien.

Kristina Matousch’s work triggers contradictory and complex feelings; control and submission, clinical sharpness and tenderness, deadpan humour and seriousness. In her new project, she uses a loud, intense and physical process to make a personal statement about the complexity of personal space and freedom.

The exhibition is supported by Region Halland.