COLOGNE.- Possibility describes a state of the not-yet. It is not a fixed condition but a dynamic constellation of movement; a structure of potentials, forces and relations. At the moment it takes shape, possibility condenses into the decision for a particular form among a multitude of conceivable variations.

Against this background, the works of Kirstin Arndt can be approached. Her artistic practice investigates material, structure as well as architectural and spatial conditions, with the idea of a form always serving as the point of departure. Through trial, error and experiment she engages with these circumstances. They do not function as fixed givens but rather as conditions through which a form can take shape.

“How little line is needed for a surface to emerge?” seems to be the question underlying many of her studies and works. At the same time, this question touches on the transition between the disciplines in which Arndt studied painting and sculpture. Elements of painting – line, surface and colour – are released from the plane and translated into spatial situations. Lines take the form of threads, wires or wooden sticks; surfaces appear as stretched, folded or cut materials. From simple structures arise constellations in which lines overlap, interweave and gradually acquire spatial presence, so that only a few lines can already generate surfaces and spatial situations. Arndt’s works investigate the transition between the two-dimensional and the three- dimensional.

A central role lies in the potential of materials and their inherent properties which Arndt approaches through an ongoing process of research and experimentation. Aluminum sheets may be folded in ways that recall paper; wooden elements are interwoven or wedged together like oversized pick-up sticks installed on the
wall; textile materials are stretched, connected, and stabilized. Metals, synthetic materials, and organic substances such as wood, cardboard, or cotton form distinct groups of materials that Arndt employs individually or combines depending on the conceptual question. Rigid materials may reveal an unexpected pliancy, while softer materials acquire a certain stability under tension. The material follows the previously conceived form. Through practical experimentation, Arndt investigates which materials allow this form to be realized and what kinds of resistance they produce.

Colour in the works follows a similar logic of tension and contrast. Strong, energetic neon colours stand in opposition to muted natural tones. As with the materials, these contrasts do not dissolve but deliberately coexist. Colour contrasts set accents and intensify tensions already present in material, form and
arrangement.

Many of Kirstin Arndt’s works are modular in structure and often originate from geometric basic forms whose elements stand both independently and in relation to one another. Through their variable arrangement new formal relations, shifting constellations, directions and vectors emerge in space. Depending on the situation, the works may be oriented horizontally or vertically, mounted on the wall, placed on the floor or suspended freely in space. Each possibility is reconsidered and newly determined according to situation, space and exhibition context.

In one of her series of works, rounded forms cut from powder-coated aluminum plates appear together with the corresponding voids. This is not a relationship of positive and negative, but rather two parts of the same origin. Both derive from a shared form and remain connected as parts of a whole even as they move apart spatially.

This relationship recalls the physical principle of entanglement. Individual elements may be separated and yet remain connected because they originate from the same source. As in quantum entanglement, this connection persists even when the elements appear in different places and exist at a spatial distance from one another. The meaning of the works therefore arises not from the single element alone, but from the connections embedded in their shared origin that continue to unfold between them independently of time and space.

Kirstin Arndt’s working process unfolds within these entanglements: between the particular qualities of the material, artistic intervention and deliberate withdrawal. Coatings and colours represent additional decisions that intervene in this interplay and ambivalence, transforming potential and possibility into something concrete.
The artist releases forces, experiments, arranges materials, stretches, connects or shifts them and observes their behaviour under specific conditions. Within this exchange between activity and observation a moment emerges in which idea, materiality and situation reach a provisional equilibrium.

Forms enter into relation, respond to one another and generate constellations. Only in the interplay of their elements does the work reveal itself. In this way structures of shifts and entanglements come into being.

Elisa Mosch, 2026