a view

a view (2024) is an installation made from 24kg of wood-chips that I transported from Berlin to Tokyo in my luggage. The material originated from an earlier installation titled ‘altitude’ (2024). I brought two modules of the original stage into a nearby German forest and filmed them being processed through a wood-chipper. The machine’s mouth, curtains, and frame resembled the architecture of a proscenium stage.

The resulting wood-chips were packed into a single suitcase, limited to 24kg, the maximum checked baggage allowance for international travel. My second suitcase contained only personal belongings. After arriving in Tokyo, I reconstructed the material on the balcony of my temporary accommodation. Over two months, I pieced the fragments back together, forming meter-long sections like a puzzle. These sections were then transported to the exhibition site, where they were combined and suspended from a network of steel wires. The final reconstruction was made to accurately reflect the dimensions of the balcony where the labor of reassembly took place, working within this space as the final dimensional constraint (243 x 95 x 239 cm).

The structure sways gently as viewers move through it. Reflective road markings obtained from Tokyo sidewalks hang from a laundry pole, acting as subtle spatial cues; visual prompts to navigate the narrow, fragile space. A video documenting the stage’s transformation through the wood-chipper was exhibited alongside the sculpture. A photograph of the original stage was also shown, framing the installation within a cycle of material transformation. a view traces the movement of material and self, and how sculptural forms could be conditioned by shifting geographies, scales, and contexts of living.