Category: Artworks

The work Hypervulva is a kinetic sculpture, that interprets the female genital organ.

"Zentrum" (centre) is a sculptural installation made of plastic, fiberglass, light and sound. The centre of the sculpture is a thin part in the middle of a trunk which pulsates with light like a heart. It responds to the rhythms and clicks audible from the corners of the room around the sculpture.

Long tentacles searching for ways through the room towards the corners, growing out of the top and the bottom of the trunk and conquering the space. The 'centre light' also responds to the occasionally occurring soundscapes, audible from the very inside of the sculptures. These soundscapes are modifications of different social situations.

Visitor entering the sculpture’s space find themselves in a non-verbal communicative exchange with the sculpture, as it also reacts to sounds they produce and leaves no space to escape this dialog.

The Vulva series consists of small sculptures which interpret the female genital organ.

(in collaboration with Palina Vetter)

Pulsar is a close image of the sun projected onto golden foil, which turns in response to air movements created by the visitor.

The foil reflects the projection into the room, which contains an installation made of half-transparent fabric, so that the two-dimensional image becomes a three-dimensional space, allowing the narrow borders of the room to disappear.

(In collaboration with Glenn Ryszko)

"Conversation-Situation" is a work that deals with the relationship between two people. The work is divided into four sequences showing different stages of such a relationship. Each sequence seems to reveal a communication between two individuals without revealing the explicit dialog, but it transports emotions, atmospheres and a narrative. Occasionally it is possible to catch some words but the complete dialog stays vague, so that that listeners must create content for themselves. The work is about what is NOT said. The sound is presented on a classical tape recorder, containing a twelve minute looped tape.

(in collaboration with Jana Zatvarnicka)

"Schwitzhütte" is an interactive installation in collaboration with Jana Zatvarnicka. From the outside, the installation looks like a hut made of plaster, corrugated plastic and bitumen. The main part of the cabin has the shape of a dome. Visitors can experience this space, a sauna which adjoins to a small rectangular room, that gives the visitor the opportunity to get changed and cool off after. The interior differs enormously from the exterior appearance. The walls are lined with white linen cloth and the floor is made of fresh soil. There are three bright wooden benches standing in a circle around a pendulum, which hangs from the middle of the ceiling. The benches are prepared with contact microphones. Every sound that is produced on the benches passes through a delay and is reproduced by hidden speakers, so that various archaic sounding rhythms arise. The pendulum in the middle is connected to a motor, which reacts to the volume of these rhythms. The louder the rhythms sound, the faster the pendulum swings. Outside the hut, sauna stones are heated on a fireplace to be brought into the hut for sauna infusions.

A painted image (4 x 4 m, yogurt and soap with pigments, Chinese Ink) on self-produced latex material (thin layers of latex on foil) forms a Tee Pee or cocoon-like space (approx 1 x 1 m). Outside the Latex-tent I installed lights which react to sounds. Additionally a sound collage/ sound composition is played through various speakers and a sound transducer installed underneath a wooden floor plays sound as well. The sound collage forms a composition that corresponds to the image. Specific sounds represent lines, colors, compositional elements or poetic elements of the image. Spoken words, which intermittently appear in the composition, interact with the sound collage giving it specific associations and images. The painting is built up by the acoustics and structure of the sound. It is not possible for the viewer to look at the entire painting at once because of the small distance between the viewer, the cocoon like surrounding, and the latex canvas. The light responds to treble, mids, and bass and lights up the latex from the back, which keeps the viewer from grasping the entire picture. Only the composition of the sound collage seems to shed light on the whole image. This auditory way of depicting an image is meant to break down the otherwise existing distance between image and viewer. The cocoon-like shape of the image is supposed to intensify this effect

This sound installation deals with the architectural presence of sound. Aylin Leclaire recorded sounds at four different locations for this work. She constructed sound collages out of these sounds which represent her experience in these spaces. The collages are divided into four sequences, which are presented in a dark, and thus visually undefined space. The entrance of the space is a square hole in a wall. The sounds of the different places transform the space into a dynamic room, where Leclaire's experience and the viewer's perception mix.

The title of this work is a pun referring to this transformation or mixing: Transposition In Four Places -Transpositioning four places. The word transposition can also be found in music theory. By using different speakers and a sound transducer, installed underneath the wooden floor, the architectural impression is intensified.

The performance "Control Station" deals with the role of acoustics and the opportunity to shape rooms by intervening with the existing background noise.

The auditory part of this work consists of three sections, each of which are sound collages, spoken and sung passages. These passages explain Leclaire's thoughts about the content of the sound piece. Within a latex installation, the space is divided into an indoor and an outdoor space. The viewer is outside the latex construction, while Leclaire performs inside it. The latex material, which is made from liquid latex, plastic wrap and iodine bitumen, has a skin-like structure and appearance. Inside the thin latex material lights are installed, which respond to sound. The sound of the performance lights up the latex installation from the inside, so that the construction seems to pulsate like an internal organ and becomes something like a uterus. The spoken and sung text deals with the hypothesis that sound has a huge impact on the perception of space. "I can change a room only by speaking. Nevertheless, the space that forms, is my very own personal space and the space of my counterpart is not properly assessable for me." The light installation additionally depicts this.

The work, produced in 2014, references the painting "The Strawberry Girl" by Joshua Reynolds. It consists of two parts. Both parts treat the almost bizarre scene in Reynolds' painting, which shows a little girl bent over like an old woman, coming out of a dark forest and carrying something in her apron the viewer cannot see. This makes the painting incredibly intriguing.

The first part of the work is a video in collaboration with Conrad Veit where Aylin Leclaire plays the role of the Strawberry Girl. The figure holds a strawberry in her hand and then a thought appears in her mind. This thought distracts her so much that she drops the strawberry. She opens her apron, in which she is carrying something and looks at what is inside, which is unclear to the viewer. She is happy and suddenly her joy becomes a deep pain. She closes her apron. The last image shows the girl in the same pose as in Reynolds' painting.

The second part of the work is an old Mini, which does not look unusual at first glance. However, this car attracts attention from many people even in day to day life. The car windows are painted black from the inside. There are two small holes scratched into the windows where the viewer can see into the car. Through these peepholes, one can see the strawberry girl lying on a dark, cavernous floor, which is completely covered with strawberries. It is unclear whether the girl is sleeping or even alive. The passive viewer leaves the installation feeling that they have encountered something intimate, but with the knowledge of an unrevealed secret.

Both parts of this work suggest and describes a secret that lies within the Joshua Reynolds painting. The figure inside the Mini is a plastic cast of Aylin Leclaire's body, and also the same person in the strawberry girl video.

This work, produced in 2013, is about Aylin Leclaire's alter ego Roswitha Seefichikowski. The yurt-like construction should give the viewer a feeling of meeting Leclaire's alter ego, without actually seeing her. The room is constructed from raw battens and boards, and is situated within a studio used by other artists, camouflaging the true identity of the interior.

When the viewer enters, it becomes obvious that the space is self-contained. The decor of the room consists of objects that are familiar and seem to be from former times. Moreover, the furniture becomes something absurd. The canopy bed for example, is built from many other furniture parts and objects such as a piano, cabinets, and books. Instead of a mattress there is a carpet that mimics a mountain landscape, with little black houses sitting in the folds (or valleys) of the carpet. The canopy-ceiling is an upturned table top, chairs break through it and appear to freeze while falling. The desk is also a broken table top with a hole in the right side that reveals a golden miniature city. The left drawer of the desk contains a tiny forest. Under the desk, tree roots hover, holding a dollhouse interior. In the right drawer, looking through a tunnel of foliage and tree branches, one can see Joshua Reynold's painting "Strawberry Girl". The entire space is divided into small interlocking rooms that become episodes or clips. These give the impression of diving into memories of a person's life. Some of the rooms are concrete, whereas others blur into transfigurations and dreams. Upon leaving the space, the viewer should feel as if they have met Roswitha. The homage gives the viewer the oppertinuity to observe her character, however if only with their eyes.