Kirsten Pieroth - From the Laboratory of Thomas A. Edison - Portikus 2003

Catalogue published on the occasion of an exhibition From the Laboratory of Thomas A. Edison by Kirsten Pieroth at Portikus Frankfurt in 2003. The artist has confronted an empty sheet of writing-paper from the laboratory of the important inventor, which she bought at an auction, with a large heap of building material. In connection with a photo documentation, the laths, boards, window and door elements already cut to size and sorted made it clear that the viewer was faced with elements for constructing a building. This work was indeed a reconstruction - compiled from photos - of the materials that were most likely needed to erect the structure of Edison's laboratory complex. The sculpture was therefore a kind of full-scale model kit of the building's exterior... By means of strategic interventions, rearrangements and recontextualizations, Pieroth repeatedly succeeds in offering a different readability of common concepts and familiar conditions.