Barbara Caveng


»k.o.«, Homage to Margaret Atwood, 2003 (double bed, pillow, bedside lamps, red thread)
Courtesy: Sammlung Soziale Künstlerförderung Berlin

The manually-sewn thread in the installation entitled k.o. – Homage Margaret Atwood, bears meanings on the material plane, as well as on numerous symbolic ones. Thread has replaced classical materials, such as the noble oil paint, for instance. The sewn thread presents contours of the drawing and inscribes the text. In Caveng's work, thread as a material, which has been in the domain of women and their creativity for long centuries, has been given a strong symbolic meaning. Her work is a metaphor for a gentle and vulnerable woman's soul finding vitality and meaning in every situation, even if it is as painful as a break-up with a beloved partner – which
is the essence of this installation. The red colour symbolises love, but also pain. And pain is frozen in every single stitch of the needle. Caveng expresses herself with a plethora of
symbols: the bed as an intimate sphere of each individual person; stains on the mattress as witnesses of a passionate relationship and as a monument to la petite mort. The symbolic language of objects and details is accentuated by an expressive inscription establishing the connection between literature and visual art. "A divorce is like an amputation, you survive, but there's less of you." This is the final sentence of the sewn-in text; the artist has borrowed it
from Margaret Atwood, a famous Canadian writer, poet, literary critic, feminist and activist. At the Slovenj Gradec exhibition, it is accentuated by a thought sewn onto the wall: "If it hurts, invent another pain." Its irony points to a simple truth, but also escapes pathos and convincingly leads the story about a forsaken and desolate woman towards a new beginning. Life is unpredictable and frequently paradoxical. This is also the reason why the artist gave such a title to her work: k.o. is an abbreviation of the boxing term knockout.

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Born in 1963 in Zurich (Switzerland). Between 1982 and 1986 she studied at the Hochschule für musik und darstellende kunst in Graz (Austria). Since 1994 she works as a free-lance visual artist. She won the H.W. & J. HECTOR award bestowed by Kunsthalle Mannheim in 2003; an award of the city of Limburg in 2002; and the first prize by the Rainer-Wild foundation in Heidelberg in 2001. Among others, her works are included in the collections of the Reykjavik Art Museum and the Centro Ordóñez-Falcón de Fotografía-COFF Foundation in San Sebastian. She lives and works in Berlin.

Solo exhibitions (selection):

2006 A.R.M - All Recycled Material, phase III - alles im eimer, Galerie Blickensdorff, Berlin
2005 A.R.M - All Recycled Material, phase I : A.R.M – musterwohnung, Angermünderstrasse 1, Berlin
2004 READY NOW, DNA Galerie, Berlin
2002 I HAVE A DREAM – ICH HABE EINEN TRAUM, DNA Galerie, Berlin
2000 waltigt...wald, Kunstetage dock4, Kassel

Group exhibitions (selection):

2006 RE-VISIONEN, Kunstsammlungen der Stadt Limburg
Deathpenaltyartshow, Justice for All? Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty, Gallery Lombardi, Austin
2005 ŽIVETI - 2LIVE, international photographic exhibition, Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts,
Slovenj Gradec
READY NOW, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, and kunsterners Hus Oslo im Rahmen von DETOX, http://www.detox.no
A.R.M zu Gast im Musterhaus, phase II: ein angebot zum schlafen Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
2004 READY NOW, Kunsthalle Bergen; Telemarket Galerie Nottodden; Soerlandets Kunstmuseum Kristiansand
H.W. & J.HECTOR – Kunstpreis der Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim
2001 Execution and Extermination, Art Museum, Akurery

www.caveng.net