Paul Virilio describes the shrinking of the earth as an atopian experience in the moment of the invention of the vehicle. This “telluric contraction” was an important point of departure for Katja Strunz when conceptualizing her solo show at Berlinische Galerie, which opened during this year’s gallery weekend. For “Drehmoment (Viel Raum, wenig Zeit)” (“Torque (Much Time, Little Space)”), only two large black metal objects were necessary for the artist to tame the big entrance hall of the museum’s ground floor exhibition space. The minimalistic sculptural installation demonstrates the artist’s very different approaches towards an investment in the materiality of things, their aging processes, and particularly how they can stand in for a literal folding of space and time. The aluminum object almost blocking the way into the gallery resembles a huge crumpled-up piece of paper, whereas the constructivist steel sculpture towards the back is a gigantic but accurately folded strap, simulating the broken chain of an undefined industrial machine. When smoothed out, it is supposed to fit the exhibition space perfectly. For Strunz, the fold eliminates or solidifies space, the surface gets stored in the resulting relief, and the moment of time gains importance instead. But in its slackness the precision, scale and heaviness of the steel folds provokes a certain kind of disappointment compared to the radiating energy of the randomly crumbled aluminum sculpture. The juxtaposition is virtuously staged by Strunz in this show. (Kathleen Reinhardt)

Katja Strunz’s exhibition at Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, will run through September 2.