NAK. Neuer Aachener Kunstverein is pleased to present the first institutional solo show HANG HARDER by Lena Henke.
In this exhibition Lena Henke applies tarpaper and epoxy resin to various-sized wooden panels. The panels are propped against the walls of the gallery space on both lower and upper levels. Produced on site, the objects become spatial structures, mimicking, echoing and duplicating the architecture of the room. Drawing into the corners and in front of openings like windows and doors, they create the impression of an exploded plinth, forced to the edges of the room. This evokes the image of a large, inverted cube whose reflective surfaces are directed inward and which can be entered. Only via the interplay with the space an over-sized sculpture becomes apparent.
In situating the material within architectural space Lena Henke shifts the dialogue from sculpture to that of presentational modules and displays. Placed within the architectural space of the NAK the panels serve as interlinking building blocks. The use of tarpaper and the form of the inverted plinth, stripped down to black and white—of a black box inside the White Cube—opens up a variety of associations to relationships of interior and exterior, or display and artwork. Working within the context of post-minimalist ideas and institutional critique, the artist focuses on using materials directly and on dividing up and shifting the processes of production rather than addressing theoretical concerns. Here materiality counteracts the conceptual rigor of the installation.
