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/ Companion Cabinet / Shloss Hollenegg for Design (AU)

Shloss Hollenegg for Design – Austria
04.05.2024  –  31.05.2024

Stoneware with wood-ash-glaze, Pine and Beech wood. 

Colophon:

Alice Stori Liechtenstein– curator Shloss Hollenegg for Design
Wendy Plomp – Dutch Invertuals 
Rutger, Studio van der Zee – wood fabrication 

Made possible with a ceramics residency at:
EKWC, Oisterwijk, NL

To illustrate the inter-dependent relationship between humans and trees in a production forests, Marte is collaborating with wood craftsman Rutger from Studio van der Zee in a similar dynamic of dependency. She designed and crafted a series of ceramic puzzle pieces and Rutger will merge thick planks of beech and pine into horizontal puzzle pieces. Together the pieces will form a shelving system and express the balance even in the way their production process consisted of multiple creators. The glaze used in the ceramics is developed using wood ash from the same tree species: the pine and the beech. Using only non-toxic and natural ingredients as well as halving the firing process into a single fire to save energy. The project originated at the Shloss Hollenegg for Design (AU) residency in 2023. This year the residency was hosted in collaboration with Dutch Invertuals and the theme was Woodland. 

The project is centred around the notion of companion species in the context of a production forest. Particularly the beech and the pine, which thrive when planted near one another, exchanging fluids and protection. When managing a forest the human becomes a potential companion species in that dynamic, making decisions around the livelihood of the plants involved, as well as the expected resource extraction in the form of wood. This powerplay of mutually interdependent relationships is shown through a cabinet that illustrates this balancing act. It is a shelving system that works like a puzzle between wood and ceramics. Pine and beech are merged to form a horizontal layer, which is supported by ceramic objects that both hold and are held by the wood.