A mail art project across borders
The trigger for Susanne Pittroff’s art action was the border closures to neighboring countries during the lockdown and the idea of using the medium “fabric” to overcome borders: international and interpersonal.
A white cloth, used in the hotel industry as table or bed linen, went on a journey. It was sent by post to artists in Berlin and Poland with the idea of integrating this sheet into everyday life, either simply using it and capturing traces of the environment, or artistically processing it.
The individual treatment was filmed or photographed by the artists. Some cloths came back apparently unchanged, they served as props for an action, for example. Others were exposed to nature and showed visible marks. Some also used the cloth as a picture carrier. The medium of fabric provided diverse insights into ways of thinking and living, sometimes surprisingly intimate.
exhibition and book
The returned towels were exhibited at Gasteig HP8. Films made during the campaign were also shown.
A book with detailed documentation of the project and texts by Prof. Marta Smolińska, Dr. Patrycja Cembrzyńska and Mareike Schwarz was published by icon Verlag.
Participating artists
Susanne Pittroff, curatorially accompanied by Marta Smolińska with artists and art historians from Poland and Germany:
Paweł Matyszewski, Elżbieta Jabłońska, Justyna Balisz-Schmelz, Basia Bańda, Patrycja Cembrzyńska, Diana Lelonek, Justyna Balisz-Schmelz, Małgorzata Wielek-Mandrela, Piotr C. Kowalski, Urszula Kluz-Knopek, Anne Peschken und Marek Pisarsky, Izabela Chamczyk, Gruppe Frakcja aus Łódź, Endmöräne, e. V, Berlin Brandenburg.
