Ian Waelder
— what if you enter a space
— what if you exit
— and re-enter
— what if up and down fold into one surface
— your shoe is broken
— your shoelace is loose
— undone
— what if you enter a space, and stay
— your walls are falling apart
— crumbling
— what if you scrape the loose plaster with your finger
— what if it gathers tight beneath your nail, hurting a little
— what if the paint is still wet
— dripping
— what if you leave fingerprints everywhere
— staining
— tracing
— what if you point out key moments
— keys
— what if you cover the key moments
— with fog
— what if up and down are bound together by a belt, a shelf
— an endless one
— one that is protected, under construction, smudged
— not to touch
— not to not to touch, touch
— not to press down, press through
— what if we stay
— do you think I have my father’s nose
— what if I collapse
— what if we know this space
— can we stay
— your finger is broken
— crooked
— turning slightly to the left, and turning slightly up, and turning slightly, slightly
— on tiptoes
— what if you catch the light on the tips of your eyelashes
— light behind closed eyelids
— what if I rip you out
— uproot you
— and cover you with a thin blanket
— to collect dust, to protect you from dust, to become dust
— little particles, pollen, microscopic, tiny
— what if we prolong?
Ian Waelder (born 1993 in Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish artist and publisher. He graduated in Fine Arts from the Städelschule in Frankfurt a. M. His artistic work deals with collective memory practices and personal history and encompasses a variety of media, including photography, sculpture, sound, found objects and printmaking, and room installations. Ian Waelder currently works and lives between Mallorca, Frankfurt am Main, and Basel, where he is currently in residency at the Laurenz-Haus Foundation.
floorplan
(Photos: fig1-36 Aaron Amar Bhamra / Laurenz)