mianki.Gallery shows from May 19th to July 8th, 2017 in the group exhibition fadenSpannung (‘thread tension’) works by Claudia Kallscheuer, Angelika Frommherz, Anna Gawronski, Andrea Hild und Nike Schroeder.

The first thing to be associated with thread tension is probably the sewing machine. With sewing machines, making a good or bad seam is a matter of having the correct thread tension. Errors in setting the thread tension lead to some of the classic problems: loose seams, loops, materials that pull together or bulge and much more. But it is precisely with these errors and by deliberately going against the perfect result, by playing a game of chance, that Claudia Kallscheuer works. She has also consistently replaced the drawn and written line with the stitched line, with all its levels of tension.

In this way, Claudia Kallscheuer encourages us to look at artists who use the thread as a line with all its levels of tension in their work.

In the exhibition, fadenSpannung (‘thread tension’), five artists approach the line in a special way. The lines in their works are primarily not drawn. The lines are sewn, embroidered, linked, woven, stretched, entangled, loose; there are thick lines and thin lines and always at different tensions. The approaches of each artist are as varied as the drawings of each artist and each bears its very own signature. This is the game with the thread tension, the conscious use of warp and weft, the working with fabric or paper, the leading the needle by hand or with the machine, the mixing up of the front and rear. This is how the line projects into the space, envelops this in a subtle way and expands the respective work around the concept of sculpture. The different positions unite the game with the thread tension and the base element: the line.

Artist portrait Claudia Kallscheuer