The everyday magic of Karin Sander
No sooner have we entered Karin Sander's large and bright studio in Moabit than a child’s voice rings through the room: "We’re with a crate artist!" And the voice is not entirely wrong, because the studio is filled with wooden transport crates. One could think that the voice comes from one of the boxes, because a child is not to be seen. But there is something moving in the back! Between the wooden crates you can hide and play tag quite wonderfully. Apart from that, there are some dried vegetables hanging on the wall in the big room and glass formations that look like they are flowing down from a metal rod. And there's a really huge door that leads into Karin's warehouse, too.
After inspecting the room quite closely, we want to know from Karin why there are so many shipping crates here - large and smaller, long and wide. The artist tells us that the crates are not just packaging, but works of art. They have just come back from an exhibition in a gallery, where they were distributed around the room in exactly the same way. Now they are waiting to move to the next place. Karin asks us if we can imagine what is inside them. We guess: Figures or sculptures, paintings or pictorial material? We are not completely wrong, because in each box there is a whole exhibition. So in the gallery exhibition you could see 23 exhibitions in one, thanks to the 22 boxes. As an exhibition or studio visitor, you learn the name of each box exhibition (Clip Chip 4 or Chrome Blade 15, among others) and what materials are packed inside (glass, metal, paper, for example) - but you can't catch a glimpse inside. When people buy one of these, they handle the wonder boxes very differently: Some want to see and unpack their display immediately, others leave them untouched forever and enjoy the mind game, the ongoing suspense: what awaits me inside? What would I like to see? And do I really want to see the contents? We know the problem of children's surprise eggs and discuss how we would handle it ourselves. (Most would also wait and open the box only when the anticipation becomes too great).
Speaking of waiting, the vegetables on the wall look like they've been hanging there too long (at least to eat). Why did Karin nail them to the wall? It fascinates her that an image is created simply by having a stick of leek or broccoli hanging on the wall. Very directly, the food represents itself, as well as its decay and the process that led to it. At the same time, they also remind us of the painted still lifes of old masters, showing opulent fruit baskets and tables, which of course remain fresh forever.
We find the glass objects seemingly flowing away most fascinating. And Karin also raves about the process of creation: how the molten glass boils at 1600 °C in large furnaces, how some of it can be picked up with a metal rod, how it becomes viscous and cools in seconds when exposed to air (yet continues to be ultra-hot), how it can be shaped or the texture and materiality of the glass made visible, as in Karin’s formations on the wall. In the process, she doesn't think about what the glass should look like in the end, but simply lets it find the shape that the material itself aspires to. It then has to cool very slowly over 24 hours, otherwise it makes an ominous noise - and bursts. Karin has also formed many round glass Christmas baubles that are either quite heavy and solid or feather-light, hollow and very delicate. They are also great!
We ask Karin about her very first piece of art. It was created in 1962 (when she was only 5) and her mother even photographed Karin’s performance “Counting Water”. The black-and-white photos show the young artist, very concentrated, transferring water from a large bucket with a small jug into a canister and counting as she goes.
Even today, Karin is so concentrated at work and still often devotes herself to everyday things and materials. One framed painting in the studio, for example, shows a plastic bag stapled to a piece of paper (Why? Because it has a beautiful color, simple as that). Others Karin has done with different office materials - paper clips, hole punch confetti, ballpoint pens. Artistic work is always quite free for her, Karin says. In a way, you go on a journey, experience a lot of beautiful things along the way - and never know beforehand how the journey will end or where it will lead. That's why Karin thinks you should just keep working if you don't have any ideas, because eventually new ideas will come. All by themselves. And what could be more obvious than (re)dealing with the things that already surround you? This has a lot to do with appreciation, an alert eye and great interest in one's own surroundings.
Inspired by Karin's work, we are allowed to give free rein to our ideas with her collection of office materials. Glue dots become caterpillars, Christmas balls, abstract patterns. But candy wrappers also find their way onto our cards, as well as little glitter pom poms and a sea of lines. We could go on like this forever, but we already have to say goodbye again. We would love to hide behind the boxes again so we can stay longer, but unfortunately our teacher already knows the hiding place. We'll have to come back again!
