Title: Forestkin - A Conceptual Queer Space
Materials: wood, cyanotype, photography, other

Beginning in 2021

With FORESTKIN I started a work that will never be finished. It is a forest that is growing. I plant/make trees and beings - sculptures and photographies that become one being: forestkin.

It is a conceptual queer space. When the forest is set, e.g. during an exhibition, one can visit it and become part of it. Then things happen in this forest - like performative lectures and discussions.

I am also working on a book that tells the story of this forest.

In FORESTKIN man, tree and animal merge into one being - forestkin. In the middle of this forest stands the sculpture "Cave Stool for Lion Man". It is only complete when someone takes a seat on it, becomes a sculptural entity with it: a hybrid being.
The Lion Man - one of the oldest sculptures of mankind made of mammoth ivory - is the artistic point of contact and Donna Haraway the philosophical one.
In Donna Haraway's sense, relationships are to be created between species that are not biologically related to each other in order to overcome the dualism between humans and animals. Haraway refers to all beings as critters. Kin is a connection of different species and possesses the ability to put itself with bodily senses both into the human life circumstances, and into those, with it sistered species.
The tree not only serves as a source of material for the wood sculpture and photography, but is also a place of hope. The forest, its inhabitants and visitors are critters, become one being connected through kinship.

Besides the sculpture "Cave Stool for Lion Man" there are other performative sculptures in this forest. They are called IKONS. They are dedicated to different queer people or groups.

 Here are some examples: