Floating compass
Raul Walch
Floating Compass
(Pavilion) Acrylic on fabric
Created for the KINZONZI exhibition taking place at the National Museum of DR Congo in
2021 and recreated for Kunsthaus ACUD, the Floating Compass Pavilion hangs suspended in the courtyard. Becoming a sheltered place of gathering, the fluted fabric moves in the wind.
The structure is inspired by traditional octagonal wind pavilions and compass stars denoting the cardinal directions and its intermediate points. Walch’s work often concerns itself with the element of air or wind. He utilizes the movement it provides in his kite or sail works and plays with its conceptual qualities. This moving or breathing installation allows for other forms of expression to happen underneath or near it. It facilitates, gathers, and connects. Geographical notions of North and South become nonsensical, the wind twisting and moving the eight sewn together pieces of fabric. The four corners of the wind come together whether installed in Kinshasa or in the courtyard of ACUD in Berlin.
Raul Walch (*1980) is a visual artist living and working in Berlin, DE. After studying Sculpture at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee he completed his studies in the class of Olaf Eliasson at UdK, Berlin. Subsequently, he was a Fellow at the Institut für Raumexperimente. His work is exhibited extensively amongst others at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlinische Galerie, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Urbane Künstler Ruhr, DE and Museum Tinguely, CH.