Asta Gröting

Asta Gröting, *1961, lives and works in Berlin
For a good 30 years now, the Berliner-by-choice has been working on making things perceptible that one can’t see. She undermines the characteristic style of monumental sculpture and directs our gaze to the non-existent as well as the physical and emotional gaps and breaks between people and things. The sculptural work “Naturkundemuseum” (Natural History Museum) belongs to the extensive series of works of the “Berlin Facades”. The starting point for these works are facades, which still bear traces of the Second World War in the form of bullet holes. Asta Gröting sculpts the damaged walls by taking silicone impressions of them. These work like long time exposures, which depict history from the moment of the shots until the present time. Dust, dirt and also
Graffiti are adopted by the carrier mass and let the partly monumental negative imprints almost look painted. From the heavy silicone skin the bullet holes appear like scars of history. The silicone reconstructs injuries as architectural traces and translates them into abstract images. These works create an awareness of the fact that we live in the ruins of history. Bullet holes function like memory carriers and as a connection to an individual and collective history that can never be filled in.