Unit 1

A gleaner of debris both natural and unnatural, the Cologne-based artist Alexandra Bircken plays on the tension between a panoply of found objects, which have to date included twigs, tomatoes and her own placenta. Unit 1 (2008) — which appeared at the Saatchi Gallery’s acclaimed 2011 exhibition Gesamtkunstwerk: New German Art — is a formidable manifestation of these interests, alchemically transforming inorganic material into something that resembles the organic. Structured around a large aluminium stretcher frame crisscrossed aluminium rods and strings, it collects together a bricolage of yellow Styrofoam slices. These fragments’ artificiality, underscored by their powdery colours, sit in contrast with their fleshy forms, as if Unit 1 is a bricolage of anatomised organs. Bircken has perceptively compared her practice with that of a surgeon: 'I’m fascinated,' she says, 'by dissecting objects and exploring inside, which I do a lot in my work.' Since Unit 1 appeared in Gesamtkunstwerk, Bircken has had solo exhibitions in numerous eminent international institutions, including the Vienna’s Seccession, Düsseldorf’s K21, and Rotterdam’s Museum Bojimans van Beuningen and the Hepworth Wakefield.