Constructing Kitsch

Description

‘Constructing Kitsch’ examines kitsch as a cultural phenomenon that projects meaning, emotion, and value onto material and form. The project works with functional construction elements such as bricks, insulation anchors, and perforated plates. Materials that normally appear in contexts where ornament and emotional expression are not to be found.

Based on the existing structures, these materials are reinterpreted and linked with motifs connoted with kitsch: brick cavities become symbolic shapes, the geometry of the anchors is translated into floral ornaments, and perforated plates take up lace-like patterns. The decorative aspects arise directly from the technical properties of the materials. The objects remain functional, but their perception changes.

Kitsch is not understood as a style, but as a tool to question how value, symbolism, and emotional attachment are culturally constructed.