It must have been 2013, although it feels much longer ago. This is partly because I can’t find any trace of the exhibition online. I wanted to verify, rely on facts, on photographs, but all I have is an imperfect memory and a sense of distance in time. The first location of Silberkuppe was on the ground floor in two small rooms along the gate of a tenement at 68 Skalitzerstrasse in Berlin. From Laura Lamiel’s exhibition, I remember the glow of light from the floor installation, the precisely composed atmosphere, and a strong desire to showcase something like that at Stereo. I also recall that right across the room stood an equally impressed Michael Stipe.
Browsing through the artist’s monograph, rich in photographic material, it is easy to see how consistent and coherent her body of work is. It is composed of recurring motifs and materials, but also a stable tone and spirit. Regardless of the exhibition space’s size, Lamiel constructs her own environments—rooms she calls “cells”. These multiply in countless permutations, sometimes expanding into sequences, at other times appearing independently. It is intriguing how the spatial divisions the artist creates seem to operate within the realm of time. Ultimately, the resemblance between “cells”, as well as their internal variations, evokes notions of coexistence, simultaneity, and, consequently, continuity—endurance. This quality is reinforced by Lamiel’s effortless blending of fabricated and found elements, the old and the new. As she herself states: I absorb past experiences. Her works, regardless of when they were created, retain an enduring potential for transformation and renewal. In the same conversation, the artist states: My project is not about curing the world, healing or being healed. (…) I feel freer than that. I can activate certain forces, but my intention is never that determined. My work is more poetical than psychoanalytical. If defining a single theme in Lamiel’s work proves difficult, it is largely because it is so intricate and multifaceted. It accommodates both presence and absence, life and death, memory and labour, the personal and the social. Now, she reflected in 2018, I see my work more as a tree-like structure (…).
Thanks to our collaboration with Marcelle Alix, we have the pleasure not only of bringing a long-held intention to life but also of presenting Laura Lamiel’s work in Poland for the first time in all its richness and diversity.
Michał Lasota (transl. A. Dudek)
