solo exhibition
2024
ada – artistic dynamic association
Vienna
In waldein, Elena Kristofor physically explores the psychological and spatial experience of the vertical axis, a central theme in her ongoing investigation of the Anthropocene. Crucially, the work emphasizes that not only do humans shape the landscape, but the landscapes in which we grow up also deeply shape us. Growing up with the endless, open horizontality of the steppe and sea around Odesa, Ukraine, the artist experienced the dense, vertical structure of the European forest as an alienating and overwhelming enclosure. This phenomenological encounter with vertical space forms the psychological foundation for her broader research into how environments are structured, controlled, and perceived.
In this site-specific installation, Kristofor actively extracts physical elements from the forest, as dead branches and bark, and integrates them into the exhibition space alongside her analogue photographs and self-portraits. This performative act of displacing natural materials blurs the boundary between the natural environment and human intervention, raising questions about how we interact with and manipulate nature. The spatial installation physically forces the viewer to navigate the fragile, chaotic structures of the forest indoors. It is an intensive, haptic engagement with organic matter that demonstrates Kristofor’s methodological approach of translating spatial and psychological experiences into physical, material form.
