POROUS POROUS

In the exhibition POROUS POROUS, the artists Lu Cheng and Laura Klodt-Bußmann interweave their site-specific installations to create a shared spatial structure that relates architecture, physicality, materiality and processuality to one another. Both artists work with the permeability of structures - physically, materially and symbolically. Their works question the boundaries between body and space, nature and artificiality as well as protection and vulnerability. The central element of the exhibition are steel constructions, which the artists cover with ceramic and textile elements. The materials create contrasts between solidity and softness, industrial form and organic growth, protective space and limitation. The expansive installations seem to expand and proliferate, creating a space within a space - an architecture of porosity in which sculpture and environment merge. In her works, Lu Cheng explores the dynamics of biomorphic forms: Her ceramic sculptures look like growing organisms that connect with their surroundings. Hand-formed repetitions, firing processes and the interplay between control and the material's own life give rise to fragile yet powerful structures. Her works are not static, but in a constant state of metamorphosis. The porosity of the structures opens up spaces for the unpredictable, for change and exchange. While a metal and ceramic sculpture winds its way from the wall into the room, a multi-limbed wall object seems to lurk in a corner of the room like a living creature. Laura Klodt-Bußmann adopts architectural forms that mark protection and transition: A canopy and a dormer cover are reinterpreted in abstracted form as metal constructions. These structures open up small, porous spaces and invite visitors to seek shelter beneath them. The metal scaffolding is wrapped in hand-dyed silk fabric, which creates a soft, physical quality and makes the reciprocal imprint of social environment and physicality visible. The draperies follow a female-coded gesture that unfolds as a silent practice in its repetition and reproducibility. For POROUS POROUS, these two artistic positions meet in a shared architecture of permeability. The warm light of the exhibition is applied to bodies, objects and space in equal measure and eliminates hierarchies. The viewers become part of the fabric - they merge with the material, dust and structure. The human, the object-like and the architectural enter into a connection that can no longer be clearly separated and interpret the porosity as an openness to change, exchange and the potential for growth. The exhibition invites visitors to rethink the boundaries between body, space and material - not as rigid dividing lines, but as lively transitions that focus on what connects them. Lu Cheng (*1996 in Shanghai) is a multidisciplinary artist who works at the intersection of sculpture, installation and spatial research. After studying industrial design at the Academy of Fine Arts China (2014-2016), she studied photography and, since 2018, graphic art in Peter Kogler's class at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. In her practice, Lu Cheng explores biomorphic forms, processual developments and the relationship between organic and constructed structures. Her ceramic and metal installations grow dynamically into the space and address fragility, resilience and transformation. Laura Klodt-Bußmann (*1991 in Munich) is an interdisciplinary artist who has been studying at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich since 2019. In her sculptures, installations and texts, she explores the interweaving of architecture, society and physicality. She often uses everyday objects and soft materials such as fabric or paper to address transitions between private and public space as well as the (in)visibility of work. Her texts, which are often part of the installations, combine autobiographical and theoretical reflections and invite an active engagement with spaces and their social significance.