Daphne Ahlers at Sundy

Artist: Daphne Ahlers

Exhibition title: Depressions

Venue: Sundy, London, UK

Date: October 3 – November 21, 2020

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Sundy, London

On the border where worlds collide, sits anxiety.
Melanie Klein

Our most sensitive parts, depending on the correlated narration and consented fiction, can be the most powerful, controlling, destructive and therefore feared.

The groin guards are the first hard things I have made, hard in a sense that they have edges that are rigid and not flexible. I bashed them several times, which I am equally ashamed as content about. To see the subtle damage, the bruises and scratches, impossible to bend with bare hands, not impossible to injure. Like my neighbor who scratches cars with his key when they are parked on the pavement – chasing assertiveness – an impossible endeavour…

Confidence gaps, pits or depressions.

It took a while to enlarge the groin guards.

During the process and its difficulties I kept searching for pre-existing industrial parts that resembled the cave shape – a depression that could short-cut my work process. I came up with baby bathtubs (negative), motorbike front shields (negative), traffic light buttons (positive, too small).

I was provoked by Vito Acconci’s 90’s installation Adjustable Wall Bra to enlarge the pieces. A work I enjoy as much as I detest it… Acconci wanted to put the audience on a shaky ground when he presented his oversized bra collection. But they were more inviting than threatening, as the visitor could actually sit in them and feel hosted.

Even though my works (adaptation) resemble furniture, they fail to host in a reliable way.

I want to comfort and to shame.

Daphne Ahlers ( *1986, Hamburg) lives and works in Berlin.