all works shown in the exhibition SHIPSHAPE, Städtische Galerie am Park, Viersen; courtesy and © Katja KottmannWe often speak about site-specificity when referring to art works that relate to the environment they are exhibited in. In the case of conceptual installation artist Katja Kottmann this description finds another dimension: Each of her works recall or manipulate its past or current surroundings. While her objects' aesthetic is often strongly reminiscent of gestures in minimalist paintings, Kottmann conserves architectural features and represents them as ready-mades, honouring the basic form of space in a neutral approach.
Following a one-year residency in Viersen, a small town in west Germany, 1982-born Kottmann finished her stay with the solo exhibition SHIPSHAPE at Städtische Galerie am Park. The show touches many of the artist's recurring subjects, such as aspects of dispersion and of perception. The latter, as suggested by Kottmann, can never be motionless and is never entirely determined. Even the smallest shifts, interventions or translations lead to new perspectives in perception and give a visual appearance to the invisible. In our interview Kottmann told me about her show and her play with shifts.