Some images of @astridspechtseeberg’s Clay­Play performance organized by Curatorial Studies last week. Under the guid­an­ce of the artist, a group of par­ti­ci­pants from the audien­ce gra­du­al­ly builded clay mas­ks in a blind impro­vi­sa­ti­on, strug­gling with the tan­gi­ble weight of the material. The unin­ter­rup­ted gaze of the wit­nes­ses in the spa­ce was an inte­gral part of the per­for­man­ce. Their pre­sen­ce heigh­tens the ten­si­on bet­ween Seeberg’s inti­ma­te strug­gle and the alie­na­ting set­ting of the exhi­bi­ti­on spa­ce. Mas­ked bodies sur­ren­dered to a sha­red blind­ness in a tac­ti­le inves­ti­ga­ti­on of their new appe­a­ran­ce. The audien­ce wit­nes­sed how the mas­ks were sha­ped as living surfa­ces into imprints of an inner world in a ten­der dia­lo­gue with their surroundings. Astrid Specht See­berg (1999, Copen­ha­gen) works pri­ma­ri­ly as a sculp­tor. Through a phy­si­cally enga­ged prac­ti­ce, her work explo­res the­mes rela­ted to the com­plexi­ties of iden­ti­ty and inti­ma­cy, envi­ron­men­tal and soci­al dyna­mics. She uses the know­led­ge of mari­ne bio­lo­gy to inves­ti­ga­te the lives of corals and other beings of the sea and what we can learn from them. Her work is root­ed in sto­ry­tel­ling and invi­ting the uncer­tain­ty and joy that comes when we can no lon­ger see, but only feel. With a raw and impro­vi­sa­ti­o­nal appro­ach, See­berg chal­len­ges cera­mic tech­ni­ques and works with a very spe­ci­fic mate­ri­al vulnerability.ClayPlay is part of the exhibition ‘For some time I’ve been stan­ding’, cura­ted by @curatorial_studies_kask 2024 – 2025

Images by @lukas_neven