Frank van der Ploeg for the Holland Paper Biennale 2010
"Frozen movements
The pendants of German artist Lydia Hirte ... look misleadingly simple."
Kirsten Jäschke (Kunsthandwerk & Design, 5/2010, pp.20-27, translated):
Dynamic Flowing. Paper Jewellery by Lydia Hirte
"...The `charisma´ of the paper pendants arises from an antagonism taking shape: though the jewels appear airy and flowing on first inspection, once touched – initially almost coyly – they turn out to be a hardly manipulable bundle full of physical strain powerfully resisting the pressure imposed upon it by the fingers. ..."
On account of applying my different methods and techniques I am able to generate strong tension within the cardboard. These I use to create self supporting structures. The resulting objects are stable and resilient. These is the reason why I need not apply the standard paper handling techniques - glueing, folding, nesting - and why I need not use additional reinforcements such as metal, baars, other rivets or other support within the spatial structure. So my technique allows both to overcome the well known restrictions of working with paper and to make use of the advantages of this material. To my knowlege I generally extend through this technique the possibilities of working with paper in the arts. So far I came neither across works in jewellery made of paper nor in paper arts in which tension is used in such an intensive and essential way.
In 2010 I performed an experiment to develop my technique further. I called it “One week in May – or seven possibilities to move my hands”. On each day of a week I made one object from an identical bundle of shapes, each with a different movement of my hands.
In this experiment I have enriched my knowledge on and my possibilities to apply my hands for creating pressure and indirectly forming the material. This provided me with a wider scope for using my hands in subsequent works. This enabled me to use the material in a less restrictive way and to extend the spatiality in my works.
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