Phenomenal Fracture

Antonia Hirsch
Essay: Meike Behm
Photography: dotgain.info, Trevor Good, Roman Mensing

In a probing engagement with the screen—an omnipresent fixture of contemporary life—Antonia Hirsch explores the divide between the digital and the analog, two realms that shape our perceived reality. In her provocative installations and objects, the artist blurs the boundaries between screen, mirror, and blade as partitions between such realms. Her works juxtapose rigid, geometric forms made from hard, shimmering glass and steel with eerily corporeal elements—ephemeral-looking cardboard or soft foam components that recall the bodies they may once have served. Reflective surfaces return our gaze, but even the humbler materials seem to seek recognition by the viewer’s body. The book accompanies Hirsch’s solo exhibition Phenomenal Fracture at Kunsthalle Lingen (2024). Through photographs and an essay by Meike Behm, it offers a multifaceted impression of the artist’s work—ranging from the uncanny to the darkly humorous.