INBOX: Janina Fritz - Can I Be in Your House

Event

M HKA, Antwerp

18 January 2025 - 23 February 2025

The title of this exhibition can be read as a gentle, slightly absurd request and at the same time as an existential question on living within restrictive and limiting structures. Janina Fritz investigates the relationship between body and space, and the transformative processes they undergo. The sculptures that emerge from this field of tension often appear as architectural fragments that play with the presence or absence of bodies, exploring themes such as desire, intimacy and isolation.

The bathroom plays a central role in the new works Fritz created for this exhibition as it represents a direct connection to corporeality. In this space, the body moves and functions differently compared to other areas of a house. Fritz explores the associations evoked by tiled interior architectures: tiles are inherently linked to bathrooms and other spaces designed for hygienic purposes, such as butcheries, swimming pools, operating rooms in hospitals, and public restrooms. All of these spaces interact with a certain "Fleischlichkeit" – a German term that most closely translates to "corporeal" in English.

This exploration leads to themes of transformation and abjection. Julia Kristeva’s concept of the abject provides an interesting lens for interpreting these works. According to Kristeva, the abject – exemplified by faeces, corpses, or extreme crimes – elicits discomfort or disgust as it exists in a state between subject and object. Rituals attempt to contain the abject and shield us from the chaos it embodies. Kristeva writes: “It is thus not lack of cleanliness or health that causes abjection but what disturbs identity, system, order. What does not respect borders, positions, rules. The in-between, the ambiguous, the composite”. Or to come back to the title of the exhibition: that what crosses the metaphorical doorstep unauthorized. This idea resonates with the visual language of fleshiness in Fritz’s ceramics. The pink glaze used evokes the tones of organs and intestines. The works also draw an analogy between the human body and infrastructural appliances in homes such as hoses, vents or drains. Just as organs perform essential bodily functions, appliances deal with elements and remnants of the body.

A cheminée serves as the central element in the room, loosely resembling a fireplace while connecting to the forms of the other ceramic reliefs with the illuminated sculptures. Erupting from the floor, the ‘’lamps that dream of being a fire’’ carry a certain longing to transcend their domesticated form, humorously highlighted by their LED bulbs mimicking fire. 

Yet, the materials used in their creation – glass and ceramic – add another element, as these crafts require heat and fire in their making. The works play with the notion of the domestication and un-domestication of fire. They echo the idea of eruptions of primordial elements within the familiar setting of the modern house, shedding a tender light on what remains to be uncovered.

Through her works, Fritz delves into the tension between the controlled and the uncontrolled, the sterile and the corporeal, revealing layers of meaning that resonate with both personal and collective human experiences.

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