2011 | Sieben Linden

What would be the artistic language in a sustainable society?

Research Residency at Ecovillage Sieben Linden, Germany

“I wanted to find out how the involvement in an intentional community, aspiring towards an exemplary ecological lifestyle, would influence my work. I wanted to know what materials I would use; what actions would feel relevant in this context?

Besides the development of practices according to ecological standards in the use of construction and energy material, the real particularity of this lifestyle turned out to be the specific organisation of social relations. I was struck by how the intention to be a “model” village and the following behaviour would block the development of the project as much as the interference between communitarian aims and a capitalist reality.”

[artist statement Suzan Noesen]

forks mad of wax, metal, or clay with tines made of matches

Alle Vorken, 2011, photograph © Suzan Noesen

chopped piec of birch wood, marbled juggling ball

Ausgeführte Schicksalschläge, 2011, installation, detail © Galerie Van Gelder

piece of cardboard,partly painted with earth, hung to a wall with a rope fixed to two lumps of earth

Erdung, 2011, painting installation, earth, cardboard, rope, ca. 43 x 68 cm © Suzan Noesen

Drawing of two hands juggling with balls and a corner with a transparent figure floating

Cozy Corner Baby, drawing, pencil and oil pastel on paper, 30 x 21 cm © Suzan Noesen

exhibition with a chopped piece of wood and a juggling ball on the floor, two abstract drawings hanging on a wall and a ball of wool with an end dipped in wax

more information togather at the opening, 2011, exhibition view © Galerie Van Gelder

painting with straw and a little field of white clay, mounted on the straw

Feld, 2011, painting, clay, rope and straw on wood, ca. 100 x 80 cm © Suzan Noesen

pencil drawing of two people holding each others hands and circling around

Metatanz, 2011, drawing, pencil on paper, 20 x 15 cm © Suzan Noesen

a dry square of grass in the middle of a wet meadow, the corner of a wooden hut at the forefront, a tree stump and cut off trunks at the background

Rain Painting, 2011, photograph © Suzan Noesen

painting with black paint made from charcoal

photograph of twin plums lying on a red plastic bag

pencil drawing of a carot looking like a figure

an improvised table made of three attached wooden planks stands on grass and moss, in a square formed by lying tree trunks

drawing with pen of a girl sitting in front of a window

Miri als peruanischer Hafenarbeiter, 2012, pen on paper, 30 x 21 cm © Suzan Noesen