For her third exhibition at Galerie Greta Meert, German artist Valerie Krause devised an ensemble of sculptural and photographic elements occupying the second floor of the gallery. Defined in terms of volumes, areas, and locations these works play out a constant back and forth between absence and presence. Like the white spot on a map indicating a lack of knowledge, or the bias blind spot in psychology referring to one’s inability to account for their biased judgment, these works are equally defined by the physical space they occupy as by the blank spots and necessary absences of material that are intrinsically part of their condition. 

A conical wood plinth is placed on plastered jute with two intersecting red threads that form a vertical axis to the ground where all lines converge towards a point outside the base area. A reversed L-shaped body-sized plaster and jute wall piece forms a shelf-like angle on the wall between surface and space. The two works further amplify the idea of unseen sculptural segments that lie beyond the tangible space they inhabit.

A series of narrow cropped photographs taken from the window of a moving train going through the Polish landscape and printed on transparent foil are placed at regular intervals, seemingly mimicking the pace of a train and the transparency of a windowpane. Converted to halftone screen, their tenuous presence occurs through the repetition of black dots and transparent space only. 

A galvanised steel sheet directly arranged on the floor with a circular cutout unfolding in opposite directions defines a flat area while creating a three dimensional shape. 

Although this principle of positive/negative, which is so familiar to both sculpture and photography could seem like a guiding principle, Valerie Krause’s works also tend to develop out of one another in an organic manner. Throughout the exhibition, this casual link is at once made obvious and complex, as is the case with two small-scale ceramic works hanging on the wall. Their kinship is impossible to ignore yet there remains a refined sense of uncertainty.