Untitled (Dust / Leopard)

Installation/Dust painting using coffee grounds, sand, and dust

Cleaning and Other Tasks Done for Pleasure, Nachtspeicher 23, Hamburg

2019

A dust painting arranged in a leopard pattern, created from coffee grounds, sand, and dust. The materials were sourced from art institutions across Europe, including the Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Meter Copenhagen, and Konsthall C Stockholm.

The gesture of transforming discarded materials into art evoked polarized reactions. Viewers were initially drawn to the tactile beauty and intricate design of the piece, yet many experienced discomfort or disgust upon discovering its origins in mundane and „unclean“ substances. This duality highlights how beauty often obscures the realities of production, including the precarious labor and lack of resources behind cultural works. The use of “poor materials” critiques the exclusionary strategies of art institutions, with dust serving as a metaphor for the hidden decisions that shape what is included or excluded in cultural narratives.

This piece became a catalyst for further exploration into dust as an artistic material, inspiring ongoing research into its capacity to reveal the unseen stories, values, and inequalities embedded within cultural and institutional practices.