{"id":96304,"date":"2022-02-21T10:49:13","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T08:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=96304"},"modified":"2022-02-25T14:34:46","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T12:34:46","slug":"alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexandra Bircken \u2013 &#8216;Leather and Latex&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11856],"tags":[16750,38,39,34,4230,1072,946,7540,16751,5048,1416],"class_list":["post-96304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sleek-art","tag-alexandra-bircken","tag-art","tag-artist","tag-berlin","tag-conceptual-art","tag-exhibition","tag-installation","tag-kindl","tag-leather-and-latex","tag-mixed-media","tag-sculpture"],"acf":{"legacy":false,"exclude_from_ads":[],"hero_title":"","subtitle":"Originally from Cologne and today based between Berlin and Munich, Alexandra Bircken makes art exploring the strength and fragility of the body ","hero":{"video":false,"image":false,"header_color":"black","overlay_color":"","overlay_text_color":"black"},"teasers":{"video":false,"image":{"ID":96305,"id":96305,"title":"AB326_05","filename":"AB326_05.jpg","filesize":100389,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/ab326_05\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"ab326_05","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":96304,"date":"2022-02-16 09:55:21","modified":"2022-02-16 09:55:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1441,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","thumbnail-width":72,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":1441,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":1441,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":1441,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1441,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1441,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":9,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":1441}},"width":"6","proportion":"default"},"facebook_image":false,"related_articles":"","next_article":"","main_category":false,"content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":96306,"id":96306,"title":"DSC01103","filename":"DSC01103.jpg","filesize":114334,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DSC01103.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/dsc01103\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"dsc01103","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":96304,"date":"2022-02-16 09:55:23","modified":"2022-02-16 09:55:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1620,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DSC01103.jpg","thumbnail-width":64,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DSC01103.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":1620,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DSC01103.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":1620,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DSC01103.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":1620,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DSC01103-1024x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DSC01103.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1620,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DSC01103.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":8,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DSC01103.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":1620}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Artwork Image Courtesy of Alexandra Bircken"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alexandra Bircken describes herself as a researcher in the field of material science whose art explores broken, injured and scarred bodies. The German artist dissects, guts, dissolves and reinterprets her subjects \u2013 often humanoid, made from rubber and animal hide \u2013 to produce works that are tender, humorous, political and profoundly honest. In her latest exhibition, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fair Game<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, at Berlin\u2019s Kindl gallery, she leads us to a new understanding of our own bodies in a manner that is at once poetic, realistic, questioning and romantic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SLEEK: Your work is amazingly cryptic and surprising.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alexandra Bircken:<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s very much about vulnerability, injuries and how we can repair them; the question of what you can do to restore body and soul to their proper function. How to get things back into a state we can live with again.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":96305,"id":96305,"title":"AB326_05","filename":"AB326_05.jpg","filesize":100389,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/ab326_05\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"ab326_05","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":96304,"date":"2022-02-16 09:55:21","modified":"2022-02-16 09:55:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1441,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","thumbnail-width":72,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":1441,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":1441,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":1441,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1441,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1441,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":9,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AB326_05.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":1441}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Artwork Image Courtesy of Alexandra Bircken"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S: Is there any particular reason why the body became your theme?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AB: Our skin, of course, is what we live in. It encases us, goes along with every move we make, no matter how tiny; it blushes, gets spots, and, if we look at it closely, it reveals a lot about the state we\u2019re in. If someone tells you how fantastic you look because your skin looks so great, or how tired and exhausted you look, they do it based on our outside shell. We can feel it ourselves: there are times when we just want to be alone because we don\u2019t want physical contact, or we feel hurt, perhaps. If we\u2019re really honest, we all feel like that sometimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I was 10, I had major surgery on my intestines. The memories of prolonged periods in hospital stays and the massive scar on my tummy provoked this perception in me that the wound would heal, my body would manage without the part of my intestine that had been lost, and that I would always be different from before the operation. It\u2019s a lot like a separation, where you also have to see how you manage and how you transition from what came before to what\u2019s now to come whilst still carrying the whole story within you. I guess these thoughts triggered something within me. I\u2019m the kind of person who observes a lot, watches people, studies them. And from this kind of observation \u2013 which is entirely interpersonal \u2013 comes this incredible fascination of mine. Ambivalence is what life is made of.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":96307,"id":96307,"title":"HS10-AB4643S","filename":"HS10-AB4643S.jpg","filesize":106903,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS10-AB4643S.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/hs10-ab4643s\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"hs10-ab4643s","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":96304,"date":"2022-02-16 09:55:27","modified":"2022-02-16 09:55:27","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS10-AB4643S.jpg","thumbnail-width":72,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS10-AB4643S.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":1438,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS10-AB4643S.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":1438,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS10-AB4643S.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":1438,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS10-AB4643S.jpg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS10-AB4643S.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1438,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS10-AB4643S.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":9,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS10-AB4643S.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":1438}},{"ID":96309,"id":96309,"title":"IMG_2642","filename":"IMG_2642.jpg","filesize":89213,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2642.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/img_2642-2\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"img_2642-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":96304,"date":"2022-02-16 09:55:33","modified":"2022-02-16 09:55:33","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2642.jpg","thumbnail-width":72,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2642.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":1440,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2642.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":1440,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2642.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":1440,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2642.jpg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1440,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2642.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1440,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2642.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":9,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2642.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":1440}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Artwork Image Courtesy of Alexandra Bircken"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S: By creating these latex and leather suits, you\u2019re producing a kind of \u2018second skin\u2019. To me, this seems very familiar. People often seem to want to wear such a thing so they can hide their injuries and weaknesses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AB: Interesting. For the latex suits, I took a woman and a man and cut the contours of the skin to fit their body shapes exactly. The suits follow the codes of pattern making; except, when you\u2019re in them, you can\u2019t move any more. There\u2019s no space to move an arm or sit down. Essentially, it\u2019s a lifeless, empty skin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S: Yes and no. I still had the sense there was something in it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AB: You get the sense the suits had something in them at some point but that they\u2019re now completely deflated. That\u2019s the feeling I sometimes have. I made my first latex suits in 2015, in the context of the war in Syria and the wave of refugees that followed. That really played on my mind. The fact that we think things can be resolved rationally is truly horrifying. Take the situation on the Polish\u2013Belarussian border at the moment. The value system of the EU is upheld and cited, but when it really comes down to putting [things] into practice, all too often we fail. In my installations, the ladders, especially, and the way the latex skins are positioned, are a reflection of my sense that, politically, we have totally lost our way. We know climbing faster and faster higher and higher up the ladder is not the solution.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":96310,"id":96310,"title":"L'Orealalex1 gross Kopie","filename":"LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","filesize":75189,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/lorealalex1-gross-kopie\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"lorealalex1-gross-kopie","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":96304,"date":"2022-02-16 09:55:35","modified":"2022-02-16 09:55:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":608,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","thumbnail-width":128,"thumbnail-height":72,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":608,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":608,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":608,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":608,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":608,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":18,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":10,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LOrealalex1-gross-Kopie.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":608}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Artwork Image Courtesy of Alexandra Bircken"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S: I really understand your feelings on that. And it\u2019s exactly what is motivating me to question and rethink my options and myself. I feel the issue isn\u2019t going to let me go, and so, more and more, I expect myself to be active and alert.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AB: I totally understand that. I find it deeply disappointing to know that the government won\u2019t fix it. At first, the narrative that capitalism and democracy go hand in hand seemed to be true. But we can see from the major crises of the last few years that we\u2019ve given up on our democratic values. People want answers, and capitalism isn\u2019t delivering them. And maybe that explains the fascination we\u2019re constantly seeing for the individual. Wherever you look, people are creating their own individual, blinkered worlds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S: In your art, you break down the fear around showing things as they are. Is this related to your anger and speechlessness at the horrors of the world we live in today?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AB: Every work I create has to be sensed. And conversely, all my thoughts and feelings, my desperation and composure, also make their way into it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S: The materials you use in your work are either things that you possess or have found or happened upon. Why is that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AB: I always felt there was a hell of a lot of material around, and I didn\u2019t want to add even more to it. I see my body \u2013 the human body \u2013 as the centre, and everything we find or that exists is tailored to us humans. A biker\u2019s suit is difficult to stand up straight in because it\u2019s made for a different position. And that\u2019s what I find so interesting, along with the marks that become a part of it. Only later does a piece like that come to relate to a statement of some kind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S: But that\u2019s the magic of art, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AB: Absolutely.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":96308,"id":96308,"title":"HS14-AB6543S_c","filename":"HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","filesize":49574,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/hs14-ab6543s_c\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"hs14-ab6543s_c","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":96304,"date":"2022-02-16 09:55:30","modified":"2022-02-16 09:55:30","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","thumbnail-width":72,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":1440,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":1440,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":1440,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1440,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1440,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":9,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HS14-AB6543S_c.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":1440}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Artwork Image Courtesy of Alexandra Bircken"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S: Clothes and fashion are such important modes of communication. They are symbols of power, a language all to themselves, and that\u2019s what they seem to be in your work, too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ab: My fascination with bodies and my knowledge of them stems from my work in fashion. The proportions and movements of a body, [as well as] its counterpart, have become etched into me. I\u2019m glad the question of attractiveness, which you find in fashion, no longer matters in my work today. The fact that I still focus on designing and marking-out second skins is a logical continuation of my life story. It\u2019s a constant with a few outliers, if you like, and the core of it is the body.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S: The works that tackle injuries to the soul really do stir something deep within me. I found them to be an art of \u2018opening up\u2019. But then so do your works focussing on mechanical objects. In <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eskalation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2016), a motorbike cut in two, for example, you reveal the bike\u2019s internal workings, bringing the \u2018inside outside\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AB; Exactly. And that\u2019s also why I designed [<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trophy<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2016)] in a way that the vagina and the opening remain visible. It was about getting the insides out and making them visible. I really do think that the operation I had when I was 10 brought the idea of insides into my consciousness. You wake up, see a scar and want to know what\u2019s underneath it, but you can\u2019t actually get visibly closer to it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"exhibition-artist\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kindl-berlin.de\/bircken\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alexandra Bircken &#8216;Fair Game&#8217; is on at KINDL until 15 May 2022.<\/a><\/p>\n"}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Alexandra Bircken \u2013 &#039;Leather and Latex&#039; - Sleek Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alexandra Bircken \u2013 &#039;Leather and Latex&#039; - Sleek Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/alexandra-bircken-leather-and-latex\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sleek Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sleekmag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-21T08:49:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-25T12:34:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Verfasst von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sleek\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sleek Magazine\",\"description\":\"Sleek is Germany\u2019s leading independent media house\/brand for creativity and innovation located in Berlin the creative capital of the world. 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