Guido W. Baudach

Galerie Guido W. Baudach is delighted to present its fourth solo exhibition with Philipp Modersohn. Entitled The Selfish Shellfish, it features new sculptures and a new film of the same name by the Berlin-based artist.

Modersohn's medially diverse practice as a whole can be understood as a poetic transformation of natural processes of often earth-historical dimension, as an artistic attempt at an experimental dialogue with our non-humanoid environment; equipped with a pinch of subtle humour, coupled with self-irony, and a pleasant sense for the beauty of the provisional.

The film, which uses both analogue and digital animation techniques, is the fictional self-portrait of a barnacle. The life of this shellfish, which has been found on our planet since time immemorial and is widespread throughout the world, begins as a larva that swims freely through the sea before it attaches itself to the bottom near the shore in order to remain there for the rest of its existence in partial fossilisation in one and the same place, fishing food (plankton) out of the water and reproducing as a hermaphrodite in mutual fertilisation in exchange with conspecifics that are settled in the immediate vicinity.

Like a parable, The Selfish Shellfish evokes the dynamics of the tidal zone, the constant change between dryness and flooding, solidification and mobility. In the process, categories such as ego, body, gender, home or even very elementary aliveness are constantly softened or manifest themselves anew. The rhythm of the film follows a baroque song, to which the countertenor sounds just as strangely alienated as the violin parts accompanying him, and whose original text has been modified according to the theme of the film. To accompany this, Modersohn's new sculptures, strangely shaped entities made of glass, concrete and silicone and reminiscent of the appearance of the barnacle larva, dangle loosely around themselves from the gallery ceiling.