Katinka Bock
Kompass K
2024
Hammered copper sheet in a box
18.2 × 25.7 cm
Edition of 20 copies (all unique) numbered and signed by the artist on a certificate.
This edition is part of a large series of works entitled Kompass, a German name suggesting that notions of orientation and direction are involved. The series investigates the way in which objects and bodies find their point of equilibrium and indicate the gravity exerted on them. Each of the twenty sheets in Kompass K is pierced with an increasing number of holes, defining its position in the series. From each hole, a line is drawn in the metal, indicating the vertical position when the sheet is suspended through this hole. As the series progresses, the lines of gravity multiply, reflecting the different points of temporary equilibrium found by the sheet. A network of lines is created, whose subtle shimmer is only perceptible at certain angles. In this way, each piece reveals its own specific equilibrium as well as the orientation of the light at any given moment, anchored in the here and now. Produced on a sheet of bronze hammered using the tsuchime craft technique, in a B5 format standard in Japan, the work also expresses its place in the material and sensitive Japanese sphere. But while affirming the significance of such singularities, it also addresses a form of universality. These twenty sheets appear as pages pierced by empty letters, the pages of a universal correspondence, governed by the language of gravity and the structure of constellations.
Katinka Bock’s exhibition took place at Keijiban from September 15 to October 14, 2024.