LETTING THE MATERIAL SPEAK

In her previous works fac simile (2017/18), tentare (2018), and nota (2019), Juliane Tübke explored the imprint technique of epigraphy—the study of written remains, for example antique engravings in marble, metal, or clay—by twisting its purpose around: the stones, con- crete blocks, and walls that she used for her imprints were no carriers of ancient script; instead, the physical contact of stone and paper was the only moment of “writing,” resulting in the stone’s surface structure leav- ing its traces on paper. In Tübke’s words, the stone thereby became a “co-creator of the final image,” which consequently told the story of the material itself, its many layers of erosion, leftovers of paint or posters, and other crumbling crusts of time. With Roland Bar- thes, one could read these works and their semiologic quality as an “emanation of the referent” which makes it possible for the “real body” of the referent, in this case the stone, to touch the viewers despite of their temporal and spatial distance. 1

Tübke’s new project, Weathering, can be seen as a con- tinuation of those thoughts. Moving from the materi- ality of stone to water, this body of work seems to ask: how can water take the role of an active co-creator of textual and visual works instead of being a passive ref- erent in a representation process? The multipart project, which combines installations, a poem, and a water- color series, gives us the sense that the artist does not think of representation from its end product; on the contrary, when she uses the agency of water as inspira- tion and driving force, the project can be understood as a reflection on questions of representation from within.

LETTING THE JOURNEY BE THE GUIDE

To get closer to Weathering, let us go back to the con- text in which it started, namely Tübke’s artist residency in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, 2 located at the Malabar Coast, which is flanked by the Arabian Sea. Interested in sculptural qualities of architectural spaces, Tübke initially wanted to produce imprints of urban surfaces in the port city of Kochi for a site-spe- cific installation that could speak of the memory of the city’s houses and their aging skin-like surfaces, marked by weather and time.

Once she reached Kochi in July 2019, she was wel- comed by the monsoon climate typical for this region and time of the year: a few hours of rainfall followed by interludes of sunshine, with an average high tem- perature of 29°C. Only when the weather allowed it, Tübke could explore the area and go on motorbike ex- cursions along the coast, together with Jith Joseph, a member of the Biennale Foundation who became the assistant for her project on site. One day, when they made it to Kumbalangi, which is an island village in the outskirts of Kochi situated amidst the backwaters, they met several families from local fishing communities who invited them to their homes. With the help of Jo- seph who could translate between English and Malay- alam, Tübke got into a conversation with Lakshmi, an older woman who told her about the village and its changing climate over the last 50 years. Like in many other conversations that the artist had in Kochi, one of the central themes was the weather, especially the clouds over Kerala and the predicted rainfall. For most people, the severe floods of August 2018, which had devastated large parts of the region, were still very present. This was also the case for Lakshmi whose house is situated in a rather isolated location, on a small strip of land surrounded by water.

LETTING CONVERSATIONS DEVELOP & GIVING RELATIONS A SPACE

Tübke sensed that this encounter with Lakshmi could be the first of a series of conversations guiding the way for the project. Leaving behind the architecture of the city, the artist instead visited Kumbalangi several times, conducted interviews, roamed around the area, and took photographs. When she explored the surround- ings of Lakshmi’s house and the places that played a role in her stories, she also took clay imprints of these places which showed marks of the last monsoon rains. The imprints became a basis of the works she later called Shells (2020). Like a fingerprint on paper or a hoofprint in earth, these imprints follow a comparably semiologic method as her earlier works with stone: carrying traces that speak of the exact moment of con- tact with house walls and tree trunks in Kumbalangi, the surfaces of the work series Shells also transport a history of repeated rain and erosion.