Lera Kelemen – Green Skin / Crevice
Lera Kelemen addresses environmental matters, investigating the co-determining relationship
between self and environment. The exhibition Green Skin / Crevice, a sequel to the homonymous
installation ‘Green Skin / Affective Interstice’, brings together a compendium of surfaces – such as
marble, soil, skin and tissues – and places them in a layout, mapping out a liminal space for
interaction between individual and environment. Surfaces are analysed as areas for mediation and
projection where the reciprocal contact between entities is spatialised. Although apparently visual,
this projection of layers transcends representation by establishing a relationship between surface
and texture. The image becomes a sensorial realm, a field of juxtaposed layers that contain spatial
and temporal coordinates. Extractions of tissues and sediments, as well as plaster or concrete
overlays, echo the diversity of textural elements found in the environment. Skin/screen surface is
found within the fabric of texture. Each structural object contains its own history embedded in its
fabric, which also emerges in the interval that is created between them. The disposition of elements
creates a floor plan. The architectural insertions seen from above create a maze-like layout in which
the surfaces interact. This highlights once again the relationships between textures and architecture:
the abstraction of a building by dividing it into two elements: surface and plan. Surface is what
envelopes the mass; the task of the architect is to vitalise the surfaces which clothe these masses
(Corbusier). The surface is the fabric that gives an identity to this mass, quoting the video statement
‘texture is identity’ and alluding to architectural elements that become facets of the built
environment.