Silke Wawro


Volksware Meterware, 2005 (clothes)
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Volklore, since 2001, (wool on textile, wool on photographs)

In the two exhibited works by Silke Wawro, thread is employed as a pure painting element, but also as a means of finalising the artwork: thread is used for sewing together worn garments into a new bale of fabric, which brings to mind a carpet (the work is entitled Volksware Meterware – The Carpet). The work entitled Volklore, in which thread is applied to a garment or photograph and assumes the function of a drawing line, finds its place between fashion products and art. In her performance at the opening of the exhibition, the artist took on the role of a dressmaker sewing animal forms onto the garments of visitors according to previously prepared patterns. When a visitor – man or woman – chose an animal (a deer, stag, stork, wolf or eagle) he defined himself, just as a consumer defines himself with every purchase of a new garment and subsequent identification with the dress, to the point at which the dress starts to influence, for example, his gesticulation. Which comes first: ourselves, or the dress that defines us? This kind of questioning is similar to the one about the origin of the chicken and the egg. And this is one of the basic messages of Wawro's work. Dress emits signals. It communicates. A woman in a mini skirt moves differently than in jeans. A man in a uniform behaves differently than in sport shorts. A deer is timid. An eagle vigilantly lurks for its prey. Wawro's applications of animals and their straightforward symbolic meanings, evident in simple motifs of hunting iconography, present a source of socialisation reminding of the game of "hunter and prey". This playfully conceived artwork aims to address and attract the largest number of visitors to come and observe the works of art.

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Born in Germany. She graduated in graphic design from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. Since 2002 she lectures at the HGB Art Academy in Leipzig. She lives and works in Leipzig.

Exhibitions and presentations (selection):

2004 Montevideo, Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam
2003 Paradiso, Amsterdam
Gallery Nr.15 Laren
Kölner Möbel Messe; Passagen 2003
2002 Montevideo, Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam
2001 Cooper Union, New York
Gallery Kunst+, Düsseldorf
Gallery Fanclub, Amsterdam
ZDF, Arte
ZDF, Polilux
ZDF, Arte
2000 Büro für Grafik, Berlin
Montevideo, Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam
Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
Montevideo, Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam
1999 Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam

www.volksware.org