consent not to be a single one

They stand there, sweaty and exhausted. Surrounded by
solidified waves. They threaten, they threaten to burst above them. Time rubs the surfaces raw. It scratches off the layers. Burst open in some places. Cracks open up overnight. Something is quietly rising above them. Part by part, it spirals upwards. The gaze wanders further, catching
in the folds. Layer upon layer.

Based on two found objects from a shipyard, Franziska Frings' series of works deals with the embossing of surfaces and the creation and alteration of form. History carves itself into the material. Frings imitates the cracks and traces of the found objects. In this way, she transports information from one surface to another. Further codes are added through the physical effort with which the artist works the clay.

Worked in the same constant movement, the
clay winds itself into new shapes. The result is a series of similar yet independent elements. In obsessive repetition, the artist reassures herself of the forms that she imitates and simultaneously updates. Change creeps in.

The slow creative process offers the opportunity to confront
the rush of the present. The material in its individuality resists acceleration. Each work is the result of a negotiation with the material. Pressed in, intertwined and twisted, the form grinds itself into form: consent not to be a single one.

Text by Asta von Mandelsloh & Claas Oberstadt

Franziska Frings (born in Düsseldorf, Germany) lives and works in Vienna and Berlin

2013-2017 Berlin University of Applied Arts, BA in Photography

since 2019 Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

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