Clementine Schack von Wittenau, September 2009

Fire and light often belong together. This becomes acute when an artist works with the furnace; as the molten glass is taken from the furnace, when the piece is hanging from a blowpipe, lit by the glow of the fire, and finally as it slowly cools down and the light glides through it. Perhaps this is why Veronika Beckh speaks of ‘the pursuit of perfection’ and ‘questions of existence’, as being the points of departure for her practice, because fire has been part of life since the existence of man, and this preciousness can only develop under the effect of light. Leaving aside current trends, Beckh focuses on spherical or semi spherical forms, which are sometimes presented as individual objects and sometimes nested in one another. Beckh treats the surfaces of her objects to create the desired forms. Sometimes they are smooth, sometimes matt, and other times they are worked over to produce semi-circular, rippled areas of relief. Out of this simplicity emerges a multiplicity, whereby the light can be absorbed or infinitely refracted. Until recently Beckh focused almost exclusively on small object based works. Her Master project took her in a new direction, taking the focus of the translucence of light further by constructing a large scale installation from transparent material. For one piece she cut transparent paper into strips and wove them into a nylon fishing net, creating a delicate knitted fabric which was hung from the ceiling of the glass-walled exhibition space. As the light pours in from every side of the space it throws multiple shadows, while the many arches mold the light into infinite forms, jumping back and forth and bringing the space to life. Veronika Beckh has also worked with other materials such as porcelain and perspex, but glass is the medium to which she remains most dedicated. She ultimately returns time and again to the central challenge of creating ‘flawless’ forms from liquid glass.