
In her graduation work, Marthe used complex mechanisms and clay techniques to create an ensemble of five clay sculptures (4 meters high each), and 40 ceramic plates placed on the ground. Each sculpture could be activated and moved by visitors, by simply stepping on a tile. It would then create a chain reaction of movement, consciously constructed around a self-built and invented mechanism.
Mind your step, Material Muse, Amsterdam, 2021



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Tracing movement and space. The work employs the technical and mechanical in search for the magical to create a moment, a place where visitors wander in their thoughts. The passage of a person through the installation is registered into a spatial form expressed by these kinetic sculptures. The work with its surrounding space becomes a living and evolving organism. Derived from my thesis this project follows the lines around movement and space. It enlarges the body schema through somatosensation. It sparks curiosity but also gives audiences a chance to get sensorial complementary input by acting on it, walking, and passaging over it. It is a play between the reasoning and the imaginative part of thoughts.
The work consists of five ceramic sculptures which are 4m high and can be activated by visitors. when stepping on some of the 40 ceramic plates, it can change the shape of the bigger free-standing sculptures. The chain reaction of movements is consciously constructed around a self-built and invented mechanism. Only a few 3000 nuts and bolts, elastics and some bike brake cables bring them all together.
On one hand, the work is taking our energy into a material form and translating it into its own movements. On the other hand, It gives the visitors the possibility to explore their body schema through the experience. A dance takes place between the gravitational potential energy of the visitors and the sculptures.
