The gallerist Peter Mutschler handed in a broken object very typical of our time, and also very telling of the location in a poetic of way – a torn umbrella. They are actually quite sophisticated little constructions, with their springs and levers and extendible arms, but since everybody knows umbrellas will anyway get torn apart by the first strong wind, or just be forgotten and lost somewhere, the proper resources and materials are never invested to make them last. They are thus as fragile as they are sophisticated, but at least they are affordable.

Rainbird, made from broken umbrella, object no 10

I wanted to take advantage of the slender organic feel of the stretchers and turned it into a kind of bird/bat creature. Many human designs are extensively modelled on nature, which I think becomes obvious with the simple umbrella, as soon as it is recreated into a wing. By hooking the last section of several stretchers together I actually managed to build wings that would stretch and unfold when the runner was pushed forwards. They would never survive any use, however, as the metal is not dimensioned for the extended pressure of four fingers on one thin arm. Because of this I ended up suspending it from the ceiling, well out of reach of the curious  fingers of children.

Object no. 10