TransSakrales by Florian Borkenhagen, Cologne

Togo Tragkirche, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

(Image credit: TBC)

last updated 1 September 2022

Channeling the hodge podge design spirit of Enzo Mori and the artistic alchemy of a latter day Joseph Beuys, Florian Borkenhagen’s latest exhibition – TransSakrales at the Gabrielle Ammann gallery – provides a refreshing take on this Hamburg-based designer’s do-it-yourself artistic approach.

Featuring a range of adapted wheelbarrow bases, ski-bottomed seating units and portable religious iconography, Borkenhagen pokes an ironic finger of fun at the recycling trend, whilst endeavoring to reinterpret the way in which we each relate to our surrounds.

The professor of Interior Design at the Hamburg academy of Fashion and Design, Borkenhagen’s work straddles the space between art and design with its sculptural, found-object visual dialectic.

With his passion for mobility (Borkenhagens sent a giant sculptural head on a round-the world container-ship cruise tour for two years back in 1998) and desire to challenge design conventions, Borkenhagen’s work - with its careworn, slightly mad professor aesthetic – encourages a looser interpretation of the standard design approach.

With his ‘energy-saving’ wheelbarrow-based sedan chair; transportable epiphany – featuring a trio of reinterpreted versions of the three kings’ gifts – and a mini, rust-worn church, Borkenhagen’s impractical yet wholly inventive work sits on just the right side of creative comic relief.

Concrete wall and floor, stone sculpture base with a raised wooden handle spade with a scoop of soil and grass — Landgewinnung, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Grey paved floor, bronze caped male sculpture, set on a plinth of purple cloth with multicoloured lace trim — Sankt Minit, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Concrete floor and walls, wooden frame trolley on metal wheels, with two back to front sitting chairs in shades of blue and grey on top, metal handle, wooden sign on a metal stand in-between the chairs — SCV2, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

White wash wall, black speckled concrete floor, piece of rustic circular artwork on wheels, metal handle, rust, brown and red in colour — Topen, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Concrete wall and floor, pastel green chair incorporated into a wheel barro, bronze frame and handle, black front wheel — Thronfolger, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Concrete wall and floor, pastel green piece of square art on four wheels, silver dome on top, grey poll at the back with copper rod top, wire cord — Tariqa, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Black and white image, suitcase with electrical dial, side spout, metal cord, speckled concrete floor, sweeping brush head in shot — Sfumata, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Concrete wall and floor, art piece, white box with small front opening, red cord handle, three dark wood dome pieces on top — Schul, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Outside daytime image, concrete slab floor, wooden stool on a set of wooden skis — Sankt Moritz, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Concrete floor and wall, black and yellow striped metal frame, sat on four small grey, brown bicycle seat set inside the top of the frame — Rollator, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Slanted wooden piece with arch insets, on a concrete floor — Palermo, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

White wall, concrete floor, tall legged white stool — Messdiener, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Concrete wall and floor, rustic wooden block with dark wooden peices on top — Kyriake, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

white concrete wall, concrete floor, red and white stripe ladder with wooden stool incorporated — Hochamt, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

Concrete wall and floor rustic wooden frame, rusty green metal box on top — C+M+B, © Florian Borkenhagen, Courtesy of the Gabrielle Ammann gallery, Cologne

ADDRESS

Gabrielle Ammann Gallery
Teutoburger Street
D-50678
Cologne

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