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ALWIN LAY

“Black Pine” and the 3-minute video loop “Glass of Water”, both created in 2010, form a highly charged pair within the work of Alwin Lay (*1984, living in Cologne). The aforementioned “Glass of Water” is not necessarily in the centre of the image composition, but becomes the central projection area for expectations. The board balances in a precarious position, supported on a sparkler construction that burns down in the course of the video. The anticipated event relates those part of the structure to the central, independent and slightly disconcerting vase. The white plant leaves standing in a white liquid play with the suggestion of presumed connections. The counterpart to the white plant is the black pineapple, whose placement in a showcase in turn suggests a connection between appearance and display. The stagings and the literal burning of expectations in an almost stoic calmness raise questions about their indexicality: Seeing and not seeing, showing and disappearing relate to each other within a field that goes beyond its physical conditions – where does this even begin, in the sculptural structure or its figurative fixation? – Yet closely connected to them.