Anette Becker

Interview with the Aritst

Let us talk about your installation. Tell me about ”Mean­­while.”

Becker: The 200 cubes of ”Meanwhile” were created while I was ­working on the most ­difficult part of ”Unresolved:” The de­struction of the columns. It took great ­effort for me to destroy each and every one of them! In fact, I was exhausted … spent … physical­ly and psychologi­cally. Out of exhaustion, I was searching for some sense of stability within this ­process of violence and destruction. Suddenly, a new way of dealing with this ­violence occurred to me. This ­experience allowed me to distance myself enough so that I was able to understand people’s behavior better. Just as the creation of ”Meanwhile,” with its 200 cubes provided peace and strength for me, the reconstruction must have provided the same for ­people who were just rising from the vortex of ­violence. I guess one could call this “re­pression.” How­ever, I believe, that this is a survival strategy: ­Monotonous tasks help with the suspension of horrible experiences. I felt this suspension personal­ly, when I was working with wax.

Your chosen materials are typical for your work. You just mentioned wax. What is the meaning of the wax in “Mean­while?” 

 Becker: In my work, I use wax to represent ­protec­tion … in a particular way. Obvious­ly, a layer of wax cannot truly protect from severe attacks. In fact, it may contribu­te to vulner­ability. Therefore, I use the wax to represent the ­desire for protection, rather than actual ­protection. Since wax is ­transparent, it exposes what needs to be protected, while it is permeable enough to protect from suffocation. In my work ”Discord,” I used glass as a medium to show that absolute protection imprisons life. In contrast, the permeability of wax provides a sense of muted protection. The ­injured, ­rusty cubes show a similar surface to the sculptures from “Unresolved.” They represent the reality of the cruel and horrific experiences that remain in ­people’s conscious­ness – or un­consciousness. 

As I am looking at these two boards from ”Meanwhile” next to each other, I sense a simultaneous rejection and connection ­between the two. What about this tension? 

Becker: Both boards necessitate each other. The 100 wax protected cubes would not exist without the 100 injured cubes (rusty ­surface, written information). Without the wax covered cubes, the injured, rusty cubes would be ­repulsive. Next to each other however, injury and soft protection can ­coexist. I am reminded of the survival mechanisms of the people who ­rebuild their cities: They rebuilt whole sections of cities by collecting and sorting brick, after brick, after brick. One had to make order out of chaos. In my mind, this is a huge internal and external accomplishment! ­Never­­theless, it is not final … it is a phase. 

That brings me to the title itself: ”Mean­while.” What does it mean? 

Becker: You see, this installation contains movement. I am not referring to the effect of art on the spectators. I am referring to an internal pulse within the ­installation. They are not static or final. Despite the apparent order and quiet, you can feel the internal tension, as you did. … The rust and the vulnerability of the wax ­ exemplify that. The order, there­fore, remains ­vulnerable. The old cannot be discarded and the new does not mean ­forever! The un­resolved issues continue to gnaw away at the surface of ­normalcy. Of course, this under­ground gnaw­ing has historical ­conse­quen­ces – for both, individuals and societies. Someday, so I hope, the layer of normalcy and the layer of gnaw­ing must merge. And this is my whole point. We cannot replace, deny, or eliminate either side, but we can attend to both in order to move towards a healing resolution. Then, a cohesive experience can be transmitted from one ­generation to the next.