NTAA22 FINALIST: Carolin Liebl & Nikolas Schmid-Pfähler - RE:PLACES

In RE:PLACES, the space is characterised by sculptures with expressive shapes and colours.

On closer inspection, the objects show properties that seem untypical of their materiality - massive plastic that forms multicoloured, abstract structures and sometimes throws bubbles at the surface.
The chunks, which consist of different types of plastic, originate from industrial production, where they arise as waste products from the cleaning of machines. The plastic material is heated and compressed in a cylindrical extruder in the centre of the robot and swells out as a colourful mass. The hot material curves and twists until it cools and solidifies into its final form. In creative processes lasting several minutes, the 1.70m high robot sheds the plastic objects and spreads them around the exhibition space.

It enables an intuitive and aesthetic approach to the thematic complex around plastic and its problematic use. The title of the installation RE:PLACES is short for ‘Recycling PLA Closed-Circuit Extrusion Shaper’.