Buckets of Grey Water

A solo exhibition by Dagmar Radmacher | April 6 - April 30, 2024

Opening event on Saturday, April 6, 4-6:30 pm

Buckets of grey water by Dagmar Radmacher is the first installment of what the artist describes as a visual autobiography, based on her poem of a simple, yet deeply personal childhood memory, reflecting notions of repurposing, care and grief. Featuring 70 pages of text-based drawings created on salvaged A4 paper, the exhibition celebrates the launch of Radmacher’s book by the same name. Containing all 70 pages, including prints of the front and backside to replicate the original paper works, the book represents another artwork in itself.

The text is written by hand in red ink, which often bleeds through the thin sheets of paper the artist either inherited or found as discarded materials. Readers are invited to follow a string of words or snippets from a sentence that sprawl across the entire A4 page in a series of repetition, with each page dedicated to a new word or short phrase from the artist’s poem. The paper works can either be perceived as literature, or a large, fragile drawing with text that is not immediately legible, serving more as a visual element than written content. There is an imperfection to the almost obsessive process of writing or mark-making manifested on each sheet of paper, as well as a calming, meditative quality, both represented by the artist’s act of creation, as well as the viewer’s act of reading or skimming through the script. 

In her poem, Radmacher transports audiences to a scene in the past, in which her parents prepare bathwater for her when she was a child. After the bath, the gray water is saved for other uses over several days, such as cleaning the bathroom, and other household chores, instead of being discarded immediately. The artist chronicles these actions in a simplistic manner, using language that is both light with humor and heavy with emotion.

In addition to the artist's paper work, a number of gray, concrete shapes and their textile molds lay scattered on a shelf opposite the poem-covered wall, creating a stark contrast to the fragile paper work. The piece is titled Fragments of a fossilised temporary state, and its vessel-liek shapes are reminiscent of temporary forms, such as tents, teepees, cocoons, and igloos. These forms are recurring features in Radmacher’s practice, and also echo the vessel shape of buckets. The piece alludes to memory, in a similar way as the paper work. Instead of ink, the concrete forms show markings left behind from their textile molds, made of knitted wool. 

In the artist's words: "These forms represent a transformative aspect that can also stagnate and become permanent. A tent, for instance, can be a temporary shelter, used for recreation, while it can also become a refugee's permanent fate. Temporary vessels can be filled and refilled, or forgotten and left to decay. Situations in life form and mark us, as we also form and mark situations. The temporary also becomes a part of the permanent, leaving small marks and reminders to create an illusion of the permanent."

About the Artist

Dagmar Radmacher (b. 1967) is a German artist based in Denmark, whose artistic practice is anchored in repetitive processes that reflect a commitment to dogmatism. Her works evolve through slow and sometimes destructive transformations, enlivened by performative aspects. Infused with humor and a hint of anarchy, her works aim to be both thought-provoking and immersive. In her previous work, she has crafted faceless crochet dolls that act as unique portraits, and she has put on performances that  reconstruct dramaturgy to its bare minimum. Within her performances, crocheted works are often meticulously unraveled until they dissolve into nothingness. In her choice of colors, she restricts herself to red, white, and natural tones, such as the inherent colors of wood, or unbleached paper. This restriction is a deliberate act of dogmatization, a self-imposed constraint that simplifies and minimizes the possibilities within her work.

Website: www.dagmarradmacher.com / Instagram: @dagmarradmacher 

Practical Information

Exhibition Venue: Bien Contemporary, Vester Voldgade 8, 1552, Copenhagen, Denmark

Opening Hours: Mondays & Tuesdays, 5-8pm

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