Staša Hlava & Christel Liebenberg, Baking Stories in the Sun (Installation View), 2024
Baking Stories in the Sun
by Staša Hlava & Christel Liebenberg
Front Gallery: 22.08.24 - 03.10.24
Our body of work, Baking Stories in the Sun, is a collaborative project exploring new possibilities and realities created at the intersections of our ideas and practices. This exhibition experiments with how the dialogue between two artists can manifest as objects and stories, highlighting the fluidity of artistic expression and the dynamic process of narrative construction. Our collaboration centers on dialogic creation—a continuous exchange of thoughts, critiques, and inspirations that propel our works into new realms.
We explore the contradictions of contemporary living and question the perceived border between the natural and the artificial. At the intersection of the organic and synthetic, we create an altered reality between utopia and dystopia—a world both atrocious and beautiful, sinister, and comforting. Rather than directly addressing socio-political issues or making statements about the state of the world, our aim is to create an aesthetic experience emerging from the intersection of our practices. We reflect on the ambiguity and complexity of everyday life to imagine possible future worlds and new possibilities. The narratives we construct embrace the chaos and beauty inherent in the modern human experience.
The sculptural elements in this exhibition, created by Staša Hlava, provided the entry point into the project. By converting these sculptures into 3D models, Christel Liebenberg expands the narrative through animation. This transformation from physical to digital media is more than a change in form; it is a dialogue between two modes of artistic expression, each reshaping the other.
The sculptures function as narrative nodes, which feed the animation, while the animations inform the production of the sculptures, each telling a part of the story that connects to the exhibition's larger themes. This dynamic interplay between the physical and digital realms underscores our central theme: exploring new possibilities at the intersections of our practices.