underwater alphabet and rocket tree by michael sailstorfer

‘I’m really interested in what sculpture can be and how a sculpture can spread out and use much more space than it physically has,’ says german artist michael sailstorfer. with a kind of audacious architectural alchemy, sailstorfer builds dysfunctional sculptures and transforms their previous utilitarianism into follies of uselessness, charm and wit. sailstorfer sinks styrofoam letters of an entire alphabet into the sea on a concrete block and marks the geographical locations. ‘U6, 14 grad 34, 790 N / 60 grad 50,969 W’.

images © the artist, 2007, courtesy christine andersen

‘rocket tree’, 2008 | image © the artist, courtesy galerie perrotin, paris

artwork from the current exhibition ‘no light’
at galerie perrotin in paris (on show until 07/03/2009)

michael sailstorfer was born in 1979 in velden/vils. he studied at freie kunst akademie der bildenden künste in munich and at the goldsmiths college, university of london. sailstorfer lives and works in berlin.