"Becoming Stone" (2023/2025, mixed media, 123x75x66 cm)
shown in the group exhibition WHY AM I SOFT IN THE MIDDLE?
@halfsisterberlin curated by
@inter.act.pr
This sculpture draws from fragments of my own life. Materials such as a piece of plasterboard from a recent bathroom renovation, parts of an old desk and shelving units, or a wooden element from my childhood bed form the architectural body of the sculpture, that houses a stop-motion animation. In the video, the protagonist is caught in a loop of inertia and transformation: his domestic space collapses into a stone, and he doesn’t just carry it – he becomes it. Referencing Camus’ Sisyphus, the Greek mythological figure becomes a metaphor for the recurring confrontation with power dynamics in the art world – structures that artists encounter again and again. Decisions made behind closed doors, the delicate balance between visibility and vulnerability, and the rhythm of effort and uncertainty are familiar to many who navigate this field.
The title of the exhibition borrowed from Paul Simon’s ironic reflection on midlife crisis, is a poetic expression of a diffuse inner tremor: a moment when the self feels fractured, out of place, and beyond reach. The exhibition reflects on crisis not as rupture, but as an ongoing, generative condition. It invites us to dwell in the soft middle: in uncertainty, dissonance, and the in-between – where art becomes a practice of presence, perception, and quiet disruption.
I had the honor to exhibit my work along: #anjaronacheer, #anawitt, #berndoppl, #emmakling, #imrenagy, #lorenzkunath, #matthiasramsey, #sophiatabatadze, #xeniahausner
📷 1-3:
@lorenzkunath
7: Tina Natsvlishvili
#linusriepler #becomingstone #sculpture #mixedmediaart #stopmotion #contemporaryart #krise #camus #sisyphus #whyamisoftinthemiddle
