Henriette Grahnert - forum profanum

Henriette Grahnerts „forum profanum“ presents an alternative draft to the old Roman forum in Italy, which first of all represents mastery and power in architecture of prestige. In Grahnerts forum instead, the simple and everyday things of life achieve eminence. There is for example a construction of steal that looks like a rollercoaster, goes up and down and additionally gets the function as a stair railling. Normally, raillings give us saftey and hold, but in this case it would be a dangerous undertakting to use it the habitual way. Risks and adverse effects included. Another statement of antagonism ist the installation of archs of iron that are draped with plastic material. Such poor and banal material, that is normally used to handle rubbish and waste, gets here much more attention. These unsteady constructions remind the viewer of the triumphal arch, but they appear in a completely different way -  more sympathic and decent.After entering the Roman portal the visitor can find a comfortable and homely place to celebrate his shame - a corner only for being ashamed! In general, Henriette Grahnert likes to put these at first view wasty, old and nasty things in centre of attention, also the disagreeable aspects on human beings. Spotlight on! In modification of existing cultural artefacts Henriette Grahnert creates objects with cult status that open space for association.