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If you're planning restroom upgrades, you may want to avoid employing this German artist to handle it.

Truly, she's an expert with a silicone gun, producing compelling artworks from this unlikely art material. Yet as you observe her creations, the stronger one notices that something feels slightly unnerving.

The dense strands made of silicone she produces extend over their supports on which they sit, sagging over the sides below. The gnarled silicone strands expand until they split. A few artworks break free from the display cases fully, becoming a collector of debris and fibers. Let's just say the ratings would not be positive.

At times I get the feeling that items possess life inside an area,” remarks Herfeldt. Hence I turned to silicone sealant as it offers such an organic feel and appearance.”

In fact there is an element rather body horror about these sculptures, including that protruding shape that protrudes, similar to a rupture, off its base within the showspace, to the intestinal coils of foam that rupture resembling bodily failures. Displayed nearby, Herfeldt has framed images of the works seen from various perspectives: resembling squirming organisms observed under magnification, or growths on a petri-dish.

“It interests me that there are things in our bodies taking place that seem to hold independent existence,” she says. Phenomena you can’t see or command.”

Regarding elements beyond her influence, the exhibition advertisement featured in the exhibition displays a photograph of water damage overhead in her own studio located in Berlin. The building had been erected decades ago and according to her, was quickly despised among the community since many old buildings were torn down to allow its construction. It was already in a state of disrepair as the artist – who was born in Munich yet raised near Hamburg prior to moving to the capital during her teens – moved in.

This deteriorating space was frustrating for her work – it was risky to display her pieces anxiously risk of ruin – but it was also fascinating. Without any blueprints on hand, nobody had a clue how to repair the problems which occurred. Once an overhead section in Herfeldt’s studio became so sodden it fell apart fully, the only solution involved installing it with another – perpetuating the issue.

In a different area, she describes the leaking was so bad so multiple drainage containers got placed above the false roof to divert the moisture elsewhere.

It dawned on me that the structure resembled an organism, a totally dysfunctional body,” the artist comments.

These conditions brought to mind a classic film, John Carpenter’s debut cinematic piece concerning a conscious ship which becomes autonomous. And as you might notice through the heading – three distinct names – more movies have inspired to have influenced Herfeldt’s show. These titles refer to main characters in Friday 13th, another scary movie and the extraterrestrial saga in that order. She mentions a 1987 essay from a scholar, which identifies the last women standing a distinctive cinematic theme – women left alone to save the day.

These figures are somewhat masculine, reserved in nature and they endure because she’s quite clever,” the artist explains of the archetypal final girl. They avoid substances nor sexual activity. Regardless the viewer’s gender, all empathize with this character.”

Herfeldt sees a connection from these protagonists with her creations – objects which only staying put despite the pressures affecting them. Does this mean the art really concerning social breakdown rather than simply water damage? As with many structures, such components meant to insulate and guard from deterioration in fact are decaying within society.

“Oh, totally,” responds the artist.

Prior to discovering her medium using foam materials, she experimented with different unconventional substances. Past displays featured forms resembling tongues made from a synthetic material found in in insulated clothing or inside a jacket. Again there is the sense such unusual creations might animate – some are concertinaed resembling moving larvae, pieces hang loosely off surfaces or spill across doorways attracting dirt from footprints (She prompts audiences to interact and soil the works). Similar to the foam artworks, the textile works are similarly displayed in – and breaking out of – budget-style display enclosures. These are unattractive objects, which is intentional.

“These works possess a specific look that somehow you feel compelled by, and at the same time being quite repulsive,” the artist comments amusedly. “It attempts to seem invisible, yet in reality highly noticeable.”

The artist does not create work to make you feel relaxation or beauty. Conversely, she aims for unease, strange, maybe even amused. But if you start to feel water droplets on your head too, remember the alert was given.