Interview with Kai Schiemenz about the show

EIGEN + ART: Last year, you published a catalog titled “Priel”. To what degree is this exhibition based on the concepts described in this catalog, and how have you further developed them substantively?

Kai Schiemenz: The word “Priel” is used in German to describe a narrow channel in a mudflat created by the tides. It is sometimes visible at low tide, but then at high tide perceptible only as a current under the surface of the sea. Such tideways are out-flushings from continuously branching, meandering river courses. In the first place, this is an image I like: a river that flows into the sea and takes on a new character because of the moon and its gravity. My work with glass is similar. Here I altered my work method, and with it the parameters and the emerging artwork. In this sense, the title of the exhibition is programmatic and a continuation of what is inherent in the catalog “Priel”.

E+A: You mention the material, glass, with which you have long worked and that is very present here, as well. This time, you have brought it into novel forms placed on pedestals that are themselves powerfully expressive. What led to this change in your works, and what does that mean to you?

Kai Schiemenz: The new sculptures are blown from glass, unlike my earlier works, which were usually cast in glass. Although they are made of the same material, they look entirely new. Maybe the change in my method can be compared to a cross-country skier who decides to shift to the downhill discipline, maybe because he is bored, maybe because he wants to try out something new and expand his experience. Downhill skiing is thereby much faster, and the time before he arrives at the bottom is quite short. It’s similar with glass-blowing: the speed of implementation is quite different from when you cast glass, which often takes months. In addition, I have little experience with this new work method, which entails certain freedoms. I did things that are normally avoided. I did that out of ignorance and to avoid the logic of production. Maybe that’s not rational. But rationality isn’t everything, after all.