Off-site Project
Perrott’s Folly, Waterworks Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham

Sofia Hultén is preoccupied with the ‘extended object’ – the transformative potential of matter and the possible actions that occur through it. She imagines the way things could be, or might have been, and the processes involved, often pushing them to their physical limits until broken down. At the same time she is concerned with the possibility of reversing events, ‘restoring’ objects by reconfiguring their materials into new versions of themselves. In going against the grain – of time, or material – Hultén performs subtle acts of resistance and subversion.

The imaginative realms of science fiction and popular science often provide Hultén with inspiration for her work. Time loops, chain reactions, genealogy and notions of parallel worlds all feature, though the artist continually plays off the natural laws of the world as we know it. A recent work Mutual Annihilation (2008) involved the restoration of a battered old chest to its original state and back again, with video tracing the various stages of its metamorphosis. For Perrott’s Folly Hultén creates a site-specific installation, again dealing with restoration and reconstruction, focusing on details of this remarkable 18th century building, one of Birmingham’s most historic landmarks.

A colour publication accompanies the project, co-published with Künstlerhaus Bremen and available from Ikon Shop priced £12.

www.perrottsfolly.co.uk