Alicja Kwade
de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam
February 6 – April 10, 2016
Opening: Friday, February 5, 6 – 9 pm
de Appel arts centre presents a solo exhibition by Alicja Kwade, a Polish artist who lives and works in Berlin.
Bend. Break. Stack. Mirror. Visual artist Alicja Kwade (PL/DE) uses different strategies in her work, based on thorough scientific-artistic research. She manipulates everyday objects and materials – a pallet, a bicycle, a door, a nightlight, a mirror – and turns them into new shapes which she presents as separate sculptures or installations. The result often feels introverted and formal, but also frequently has a humoristic undertone. By disfiguring the reality and the manipulation of materials and shapes, the viewer is constantly misled. Kwade creates sensory illusions – she once jokingly mentioned magician Harry Houdini as one of her biggest idols – that test our thought and perception. She pushes the viewer to contemplate the nature of objects. What is actually really ‘true’ in the reality that surrounds us? In her exhibition at de Appel arts centre she will present new work.