At the end of April we held the VARES spring exhibition, where Ola Lewczyk, Ben Weir and the artist duo DE JENZ showcased their work done during the residency. Here are some snippets of Ben’s inventions:
Ben Weir arrived at VARES at the beginning of April. In Irish myth these are the Laethantha na Bó Riabhaí, the couple of days in which March, ever the cunning month, decides to borrow from its neighbour April. The brindled cow (the bó riabhach) thinks she has made it through the worst of the winter weather, and she begins to brag. She claims that she’s tough enough for anything, having made it through March and into the blossoming spring of April. But March, set on teaching the brindled cow a lesson, extends its harshness into the first few days of April, and whips up some freezing bitter winds to finally kill her off.
Ben made some things to keep us warm. Companions to our wood-burning stoves, but unfixed, let loose. Objects free to move, to take alongside, to keep you company. To bring with you, in flux and in comfort.
Objects that have been sourced, altered, assembled. Made from things found and things easily obtained. They find expression in the ‘off-the-shelf’ as much as the ‘as-found.’ Old scrapyard junk meets combinations of quotidian hardware. There has been an obsession with steel tubes. Not necessarily as vessels or conduits, but as objects in their own right.
These objects take us on a kind of daily camping, where objects become significant for survival. They help us stave off the cold. Just for a little while, until we make it through once more.
Photos by Ben Weir, Merilin Kaup and Nika Gabiskiria.