Mohr works by carbonising wood and wooden objects. Working with charcoal represents a special form of con-centration and compression for her. She is inspired by the sensations created by the work, such as the scent and sound of the charred works and the almost ritualistic nature of the production process.

Despite its organic origins charcoal has the appearance of a black mineral, which makes its lightness so surprising. Charcoal is crystalline, light as a feather, fragile and entirely light-absorbent. Microorganisms cannot consume charcoal – the timeless, carbonised objects are preserved forever. At the same time charcoal is very fragile and ephemeral. Mohr works in between these two contrasting opposites.

Despite its organic origins charcoal has the appearance of a black mineral, which makes its lightness so surpris-ing. Charcoal is crystalline, light as a feather, fragile and entirely light-absorbent. Microorganisms cannot con-sume charcoal – the timeless, carbonised objects are preserved forever. At the same time charcoal is very frag-ile and ephemeral. Mohr works in between these two contrasting opposites.

From observing nature to spatial drawings

Ulrike Mohr´s artistic approach utilizes material transformation processes that are influenced not only by complex research and handed-down knowledge, but also by chance occurrences. Her position as a sculptor arises from the observation of nature and a process-oriented treatment of context-related materials, which she transfers into poet-ic installations whose temporal dimensions are intrinsic to ephemeral substances. Over the past years, the burning of char has become a central modus operandi in her work. This now almost extinct profession of gradually heating wood in the absence of air until it is rendered physically constant is practiced by the artist herself, taking into ac-count the various historical, cultural, environmental and metaphorical implications associated with carbon. Mohr refers to her works as ‘spatial drawings’ – drawings made with charcoal, one of the oldest drawing materials, not applying pigment on paper, but manifest as lines in three-dimensional space.

Ulrike Mohr (born 1970) lives and works in Berlin.

WAMx 2020 – The Things We Are Made Of

As part of WAMx's programme, the museum annually invites an international expert to plan the exhibition pro-gramme together with the museum. The co-operation brings to attention works from interesting creators involving new themes and current perspectives.
 
This year the international expert is Ece Pazarbaşı, a curator originally born in Turkey, now working in Berlin. She has put together an exhibition programme titled The Things We Are Made Of. The programme draws attention away from what separates us to the things we have in common: Ultimately we are all made of the same ele-ments. The exhibitions pose the question of what we humans truly are and what our place is on this planet. The exhibition C6 (Carbon) is the third part in the WAMx 2020 series of exhibitions.

 

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