Bettina Pousttchi

Fluidity
Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck

Dynamic Reformulations

Driven by an interest in urban architectures as well as the specific conditions and peculiarities of their sites, Bettina Pousttchi’s (b. Mainz, 1971; lives and works in Berlin) sculptures focus our gaze on urban furniture like bicycle racks, crowd barriers, tree guards, guard rails, and street posts. The artist creates new, dynamic constellations of forms from the industrially manufactured functional steel elements according to a mechanically controlled transformation process which she specifies, although it can only be controlled to a certain extent. Much like Duchamp’s readymades of yore, these pieces of street furniture become autonomous works of art in the museum, which have little in common with their original function. Guard rails no longer define boundaries, but invite the viewer to take a dance-like path through the exhibition space.

Fluidity is published in the context of Pousttchi’s eponymous exhibition, which kicks off the theme year “Wegweiserinnen” (2022) at the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck. The catalogue features 36 outstanding sculptures, reliefs, ceramics and photographs created over the past ten years. The essay is written by Jutta Mattern, with a foreword by Petra Spielmann.