Andreas Peiffer

Clara Belle Mine, 2019, Concrete, Steel.
Mystery Ranch Artist in Residence, November 2019

The desert of the Grand Plateau in southwest America is the starting point for the Clara Belle Mine Project. The desert stands for vastness without restrictions and limitations. Seven concrete objects were molded on site with textures from the surrounding area. They are anchored in the ground and formally refer to significant components of a barrier. They are placed around an abandoned mineshaft, pointing the center. Especially in the context of the desert, which is characterized by the emptiness and openness of the landscape, Clara Belle Mine opens up questions about social contexts such as demarcation, exclusion and isolation.

 Due to its fragmentary condition and positioning, the installation can’t be used as a barrier, it asserts itself rather as a gesture in the space.

Andreas Peiffer is an installation artist from Hamburg, Germany. He is honored as “Meisterschüler” (master student) at AdBK Munich, and teaches at the Muthesius University of Fine Arts in Kiel. His works have been shown at Lothringer 13 Munich, the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn and St. Annen Kunsthalle Lübeck. He has received funded residencies in Villa Vigoni, Menaggio Italy, Los Angeles USA, Detroit USA and Beijing China and received prizes such as the Senator Bernhard Borst Prize,  Art and Climate Munich Re, the Bavarian State Prize, and the German Bundestag Prize for Kunst am Bau. Video Portrait — Andreas Peiffer.