ANKE BUCHMANN

Open Studio & Performance as part of Artspring 2026

Image by James McKinnon, 2018

Ankę Buchmann, Sredzkistr. 46, 10435 Berlin

Open Studio May 30–31, 2026
Performances May 31, (60 min. each): * 11:00 a.m. | 1:00 p.m. | 3:00 p.m. | 5:00 PM

“… if here was any justification at all for designing objects, it could only be found in the performance of a kind of therapeutic act, an act that would enable objects to heighten the awareness all human beings have, or can have, of their own adventure.” (Sottsass, 1995) 

To mark the tenth anniversary of the ArtSpring Festival, Anke Buchmann presents the solo exhibition NOTING ABSENCE in her studio. The show brings sculptural process studies, live performance, and her new, uncensored writing images into close dialogue. Spanning various creative phases, the exhibition reveals Buchmann’s ongoing exploration of the body as a physical archive and her path to bodily self-determination.

At its core lies the overcoming of the separation between body and mind. As a left-hander forced to become right-handed, the artist experienced this alienation early on as a form of societal discipline. From this auto-ethnographic investigation, she examines the physical baggage of an conformist existence and bridges the gap between bodily memory and the mental absence of our hyper-digitalized present.

From an art historical perspective, Buchmann engages in a reflective dialogue with positions in recent art history: While she understands the body as a site of social experience in the tradition of Marina Abramović, she translates this approach directly into the material realm. The gesture with which she breaks the traditional vessel form expands the sculptural spirit of a Lucio Fontana—the clay becomes the mind’s haptic feedback system. This immediacy continues on paper: her writing images are reminiscent of Cy Twombly’s scriptural compositions, but transpose them into a somatic dimension. They are the autographic trace of a reactivated nerve impulse, shaped through ritual repetition and perseverance.

The central element of the exhibition is the participatory performance “Noting Absence.” In a four-hour cycle, Buchmann activates her body by shaping clay bowls, radically synchronizing her breathing and gestures. With the aim of remaining fully present in mind. The archaic craft method of the thumb-pressure vessel is recontextualized and transformed into a haptic feedback system for meditative introspection.  The work visualizes the paradox of presence: The moment the artist notices her thoughts wandering, she stops the forming process. The emerging vessel is dropped with an exhalation. The often very unconscious process of distraction thus becomes a conscious act. Only those objects created in complete unity of body and mind remain. The clay fragments accumulated on the floor form a sculptural installation that reveals the “data stream” of our consciousness.

Visitors are invited to sit on the chair opposite to explore their own stillness and emptiness through contact with the material. The somatic experience is enhanced by a garment designed for the performance by fashion designer Lukasz Studencki, which slows down movements and sharpens physical introspection.

When the action pauses, the performance installation functions as a sculpture that reveals the processes in our minds through the clay that has fallen to the floor.

An interactive performance, following previous appearances in London and Berlin, will be presented for the fourth time by the artist during artspring, and for the first time in her Berlin studio.

In the following section, the artist describes in her own words the central question behind her work and provides insights into her creative process.

“How can a body be reactivated that has been disciplined by societal norms? My work is an attempt to reclaim neuronal and somatic autonomy through the radical nature of the analog process and to make the uncensored self visible. In my practice, I use clay and paper not as passive supports for images, but as haptic spaces of resonance. The process serves me to uncover invisible power structures within my own body and, at the same time, to gain deep access to my inner world – to repressed emotions, memories, and thoughts.

I like to work without tools, directly with my hands. The forms don’t arise deliberately in my mind, but rather articulate themselves directly from the movement of muscles, nerve impulses, and intuition. Writing and drawing with my left, dominant hand is an act of recultivation. Sustained by ritual repetition and perseverance, this practice becomes meditation and healing. At its core is free, intuitive experimentation. By relinquishing control of the mind, the hidden within the material becomes legible: A an intimate process of self-discovery that understands the body as a feeling, living archive.”

Visiting Hours & Performance Schedule

Saturday, May 30, 2026, 5:00–8:00 p.m.: Open Studio & Exhibition

Sunday, May 31, 2026, 11:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m.: Open Studio & Exhibition

Performances May 31, (60 min. each): * 11:00 a.m. | 1:00 p.m. | 3:00 p.m. | 5:00 PM

Contact & Information:
Web: http://www.anke.live and https://www.artspring.berlin/veranstaltung/noting-absence

Instagram: @ankebuchmann

Email: ankebuchmann@gmail.com