Flowing, Patterning and Pacing

Flowing, Patterning and Pacing is a sculpture developed for Britzenale 4 that unfolds trans* and autistic gestures informed by our bodyminds in and within climate catastrophe.

A fluorescent pink sculpture emerges out of a garden with many small plants in the foreground and background. The structure looks spider like with many dancing legs. Flowing down the center of the sculpture is a burlap painting with scenes of trans* and disabled thriving - stitched into the weave are gestures from visitors to the sculpture, rehearsing our collective thriving in resisting climate change.

Triangular wooden structures fit into one another and are built to hold each other, temporarily. This fluorescent pink dry-fit construction reaches about 2,5 meters tall and uses no glue or screws to stay together. Pressure and pegs hold the weight through a series of slanted, skewed and queer joints. The structure resembles support elements that form a triangle around the trunk of young trees so that wind and other forces don’t stop them from growing and sustaining fine roots in loose soil. In our work as MELT, wedges are methods that hold open doors and other pathways, and that can be driven into structures that exclude (MELT 2021). In Flowing, Patterning and Pacing, triangular wedges split normative ideas of fixedness and fixing, and trans* gestures hold open multiple strategies of recombination – this form withstands, but it’s not fixed, and it can reappear otherwise, determined by different grounds and the joy of holding on and reaching out.

Held atop the wooden structure, flowing burlap fabric unfurls downwards and shares imaginaries of climate justice futures. Planned, stenciled and painted onto the burlap are roots, rocks and sprouts with pathways for visitors to embroider into. Emerging from science fiction stories, like the autistic main character of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower who packs a survival kit that allows her to grow not only plants but a new community. Through repeating other embroidered notations or scripting and following the laid out plans for flourishing, visitors are invited to grow and sit amidst change as still and as calm as a rock. In this work scripting is a method that allows us to rehearse our collective coalitional flourishing amidst climate catastrophe.

In front of wild flowers and green bushes, two legs of the sculpture 'flowing patterning pacing' show in neon pink. Six long triangular wedges that are part of the the front leg are connected via small round wooden elements, and because each element is angled differently, a zig-zag pattern emerges that gives the leg a spiderlike appearance. A fluorescent pink sculpture is seen from below where a large pink triangle is visible. Behind the structure are trees and a gray sky. Flowing down from the structure is a burlap painting with embroidered notations stitching into the weave.
A 3 meter high sculpture made out of triangular wooden wedges that are painted in a neon pink stands in front of a forest. Flowing down from the top of the sculpture is a burlap fabric painted with scenes of disabled thriving - stitched into the weave are notations from visitors to the sculpture, rehearsing our collective thriving in resisting climate change.
A detail shot of a fluorescent sculpture that is made from triangular wedges shows two of the sculptures legs zig-zagging in and out of the picture. Flowing down between them is a long strip of burlap with neon yellow patterns stiched into it. Needles made from wood meet the long yellow strings that dangle down. Wild flowers and greens surround the scene.

Discourse

newspaper article: "Walnuss, Holunder, Johannisbeere. Der Urbane Waldgarten Britz ist Schauplatz der 4. Berlin Britzenale. Zwölf künstlerische Positionen suchen dort nach Strategien für die Zukunft" Eva-Christina Meier for taz