Tunnel - Johannes Nagel

The catalogue Tunnel presents works from 2018 to 2023 by the ceramicist Johannes Nagel (born 1979).

The majority of the objects were formed by the artist’s hands digging into sand to form cavities, negative spaces, which were then molded and revealed using liquid porcelain.

With this process, the diameter of his hand also quantifies the tunnel that emerges, while the movement of the arm defines the object’s form. By doing this, says co-author Esther Niebel, the artist imprints his own presence into the objects.

In addition to the extraordinary shapes thus created, expressive colors and the painting of the objects play a central role in Nagel’s work — or, in the word of Niebel: 'Without colour, his work would be much more boring, he says, and the more intensively one examines his works, the clearer his meaning becomes.'

Accompanied by essays, the excavated and cast pieces are presented in a linear, filmic sequence of full-page photographs in a staccato portrayal of objects and ideas.