Mesonya/ was Katinka Bock’s exhibition of new sculptures made for Siobhan Davies Studios. This was the first of three Traces Commission projects to be presented at Siobhan Davies Studios, in which three artists were invited to spend time getting to know the building and the artists and practice that occupy it, leading to the creation of a new body of work.
For her first solo presentation in the UK, Bock addressed the specific conditions of the Roof Studio at Siobhan Davies Studios. Bock’s installation, incorporating ceramic with other common construction materials, responded to and emphasized the space’s constantly changing use for classes, rehearsals and other events. The installation was more or less present according to the interests and needs of users of the studio. During exhibition hours, it fully occupied the space, creating a landscape of forms that also extended beyond to the outside of the building and into the adjacent school. The exhibition’s title, an anagram of some / any, hints at these conditions of presence and absence.
Bock makes her practice sensitive, in a variety of ways, to the influence of various situations that it encounters. As well as responding to Siobhan Davies Studios’ architecture and activities, Mesonya/ is the third in a series of projects where Bock incorporates a process of exchange with others into her making process. The sculptures centre on ceramic forms made by wrapping objects acquired by trading her sculptures for shop goods with shopkeepers in Toronto, the site of the project’s last iteration in her exhibition _o_o__o at Mercer Union. This continues a process started with Bock’s exhibition Zarba Lonsa at Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers near Paris in 2015.
Witnessing the making and presentation of Siobhan Davies Dance’s recent touring performance installation material / rearranged / to / be has also informed Bock’s process. It has led to a dialogue with Andrea Buckley, a dance artist who participated in that project, and resulted in a performance and workshop that took place inside Bock’s exhibition.