research; assemblage,

Jumana Manna 

An American-Palestinian artist that works mainly in sculpture and video art¹, Manna focuses on creating personal work with a heavy focus on identity. Her work portrays heavy symbolism, which is as thought provoking as much as her materials. Often she combines very hard, rigid, manmade objects with those of ‘soft nature’ or nature itself². There is often a fragmented, worn look to her work, akin to fallen ceramics or old, weathered sculptures from an extinct civilization. In an overview of the publication for her first solo exhibition “a small big thing”, 3 pieces are described in close proximity; her film ‘Wild Relatives’, in which the transit of seeds between Svalbard Global Seed Vault and the fields of Beeka Valley, Lebanon is documented, is displayed on a large screen³. Next to this screen are two installations, ‘Cache (Insurance Policy)’ ⁴ and ‘Post Herbarium’ ⁵. The connection between these pieces to me creates an assemblage, connected by the thematic similarities and the structural connection between the latter two installations. Perhaps this is just a well curated collection, though, and I am misinterpreting assemblage? 

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Alexandra Bircken

This was a super powerful piece that I saw once, and I remember it still. Calico suits dipped in black latex⁷ hanging from the ceiling, an earie atmosphere with a horrible hint at burnt bodies, hung as if in gallows. The hanging method and the materials used makes a wonderful assemblage with powerful influence.

What looks to be spray painted white twigs, artificial fibers, and shredded fabric, create this piece which has a definite wasteland feel, as above. I image objects like this could be found in some war ridden sub zero wasteland, or in a hot desert. The Fabric wound around the twig alludes to a long lost item of clothing, weather worn and destroyed, or a deadly spider who found its new place of terror.

Influenced by her history in fashion⁶ , her creations mimic handmade, alternative living, and desolate realms affected by the terrors of our world.

Thea Djordjadze

Djordjaze, a Georgian artist based in Berlin, makes beautiful assemblages with strong reference to historical texts. Above is a project she participated in for the Bienalle in 2013, echoing a typical Tbilisi sight in which people would create additions to their homes, and were free to do so due to the ‘lawless’ times after the fall of the soviet union.⁸ . I think this gives a great example of an everyday assemblage, as generally they were extremely haphazard in character, and looked as though they might fall with a gust of wind (thus nicknamed ‘Kamikaze Loggia’. I think it’s a nice alternative view to assemblage in being an everyday approach to alternative ideas. 

Thea’s work often uses found objects to adjust and inspire a space, though they are always beautifully finessed and crafted. Her creations often question the idea of the “white cube”⁹ In their immersive essence.

¹ https://www.widewalls.ch/artists/jumana-manna
² https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1VoccX0IYE
³ https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/jumana-manna
⁴ https://www.lafayetteanticipations.com/en/oeuvre/cache-insurance-policy
⁵ https://www.jumanamanna.com/Post-Hebarium
⁶https://www.saatchigallery.com/artist/alexandra_bircken
⁷https://hepworthwakefield.org/artist/alexandra-bircken/
⁸https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/32794/kamikaze-loggia/
⁹https://spruethmagers.com/artists/thea-djordjadze/