The space is staged like a wind tunnel with painted gusts sweeping through. Railings on the wall are inspired by "La Bora", a forceful gale in the northeast Adriatic, so strong that the city of Trieste in northeastern Italy is equipped with outdoor safety railings for people to grip. 

 

Wind in all its strengths and directions has been anthropomorphized dating back to mythological times, and here it takes on the role of destiny, filling sails before embarking towards new homes.

 

Railings on the wall greet you, ready to provide a safety hold should you get carried away by emotions. This sense of flying away, of losing one’s hold is related to flying to a new home.

These collaborative new works Now My Charms Are All O’erthrown – What Strength I Have’s My Own (Memory Railing #1 and #2) take inspiration from La Bora. In Perfect Fit the railings are made by both artists using a wood burner to scrawl onto the light wood. The drawings are like doodles on a school desk or a tree inscribed with lovers’ initials. These symbols are decipherable as a codex of the artists’ experiences which include reminders of their past lives. The form of the railing is a bending horizon that never allows you to see the complete surface whilst offering stability.  

 

Toronto, Los Angeles, London and Austin are some of the locations where now Copenhagen-based Martha Hviid has lived. Her new Wing Walkers (#1–#5) series consists of clay sculptures composed on top of a mural. Their floaty shapes evoke the sensations of both leading and being chaotically swept away. “Wing walker” is a term for the airport ground crew who lead airplanes from runway to the jetway kiss and back. They stand under the wings and perform coordinated movements to guide the plane on its way.

 

Often plane journeys are associated with strong emotions of leaving or arriving somewhere. It can be a challenge trying to suppress the urge to cry while waiting on the runway, either from sadness or excitement. This feeling can be amplified by the force of the plane accelerating into flight.

The mural is a backdrop for the Wing Walkers, a warm wind, not a cold blue one, because this is an exhibition among trusted friends.

 

London-based Lucía Quevedo has lived in many places around the world including Geneva, Montreal, Los Alamos and Mexico City. Her new works We All Have Different Parts to Play (And We Must All Be Allowed to Play Them) (#1-#6) are made from remnants of previous silicone sculptures. Her old sculptures include huge cheese slices, puddles of bodily liquids like tears, blood, snot etc. These were all made for site-specific installations, which means that storing them is more sentimental than practical. Using the leftovers of the pieces in this way gives them a more permanent place in the world. Quevedo is able to identify the origins of each fragment suspended in cross sections from the amassed blocks of leftovers. Imitating the form and production methods of charcuterie emphasizes the value of meat processes developed out of resourcefulness, seeking to use every part of the animal. They turn something you can’t sell on its own into a tasty and delicious snack. You want it once it is composed into a series of slices.

 

Much like with its longer siblings,  the tiny railing outside the door  has the words “STAY IN TOUCH” inscribed as a reflection of what you say to friends, using the word “stay” when you’re actually about to go.

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- Text by curator Angels Miralda.