Patrick Ostrowsky (*1991, Schwandorf) combines sculpture, object, performance and installation based on a critical exploration of (temporary) architecture and natural spaces, of material and ritual. Guided by material aspects of places and phenomena of natural or man-made abstract imprints into urban landscape, he is concerned with transferring structures of urban life and strategies of temporary architecture to sculpture.

The sculptural installation “Structures of Existence” consists of floor sculptures with skeletal metal outlines in the form of cells that look like a virtual shrine or a time travel apparatus. They contain wood or acrylic paneling, ceramic objects, lighting fixtures or ready-mades. The wall works of the “reliefs” and “WNDW” series refer to places that the artist has lived in over the last few years as well as reference sizes in architecture. They consist of numerous layers of cast material on reused wooden panels, creating an abstract painting-sculpture whose surface contains traces of a lived life and tells of absence, presence and the quiet weight of memory. The works of the “almsboxes” series are reminiscent of cupboards, letterboxes or other lockable containers. Some of them allow a glimpse inside and an amalgam of objects and debris.  What all the works have in common is that they tell stories: of experiences, déjà-vus and personal points of contact, without attempting to represent. They touch on a shared experience of past and present, creating a poetic dance between figurative and abstract moments, while providing an outer framework to explore the inner one, a back and forth between micro and macro, art and life.

Paul Valentin‘s (*1990 Munich) multidisciplinary practice encompasses video, animation, installation, sculpture and sound. His video works, which are mainly CG-based, revolve around paradoxes, philosophical dilemmas and classical themes of metaphysics and refer to the literature of surrealism, romanticism, magical realism and writings between philosophy and science.

Valentin’s most recent works are set in his digital science fiction universe “Formula” (2023-ongoing). Posthuman figures and familiar objects populate a dystopian landscape and become the setting for scientific and philosophical reflections. The video loop “Dia In The Garden” shows the dog Dia, who for Valentin symbolizes the intertwining of instinct and logic and the overcoming of paradox. She is surrounded by a stream in the impossible shape of a Penrose triangle, which refers to M.C. Escher’s lithograph “Waterval” (1961). The work is part of a series of works in which Valentin explores the philosophical concept of the Münchhausen trilemma and the question of the “first cause”. The holograms from Valentin’s “Quilt” series show 3D renderings of objects from the future and from his “Formula” universe. Quillt 10 shows a standard of measurement (etalon) from a distant civilization. Its form contains religious iconography, ritual function and scientific units of measurement. The sculptural object “Cinders of Sight I” reflects a distorted reality. The seemingly highly polished surface of the vase creates the perfect illusion of a mirror image of its surroundings. On closer inspection, however, one recognizes the image of a virtual artist’s studio. According to the holographic principle, the two-dimensional, curved surface of the vase contains all the information about the three-dimensional space that can only be guessed.