The Secret Life of the Tablecloth (Das Geheime Leben Des Wachstischtuchs)

Iris Haeussler    (2001)

ISART Gallery, München, Germany, 2001

Situation:
Installation with prose, household objects, drawings and wax inclusions.

A short story, (written by the artist) was written by hand directly on the wall in the back hallway of the gallery. Ordinary household objects were put on exhibition, dinner plates and oil cloth were also provided with a text written directly on the wall. 48, partially traced drawings of ordinary situations were presented as well as short notes that refer to several fictive biographies. The basic material for these were derived from photos purchased at a flea market - recorded moments of the lives of other people, which deal with the apparent chance of individual fate. A series of drawings made views out of domestic spaces its central theme. They led to a work of six, window-sized curtains set in a slab of wax, orginating from the series "Verlorene Blicke" (Lost Gazes).

secret life of the tablecloth
Mutters Blick endete immer auf dem glänzenden Weiß des Porzellans
(Mothers gaze always stopped on the shining white of the porcellain)

 

secret life of the tablecloth
Das Zimmer erinnert sie nicht
(The room does not keep her memory)

 

secret life of the tablecloth
es seufzte, als die warme Schwere des Geschirrs wieder abgetragen wurde
(it sighed, when die warm weight of the dishes was carried away again)