Festival connections in the area
Anyone who has attended asphalt Festival events in recent years will already have seen numerous works of art by Katharina Andes: she has been designing the festival venues for asphalt since 2021 and her works mark the locations in the cityscape.
Katharina Andes studied fashion design at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and completed her master’s degree at the Institute for Integrative Design Master Studio Design at FHNW Basel. She works as a stage and costume designer at renowned theatres such as the Staatstheater Braunschweig and theatres in Lucerne and Heidelberg. She also maintains close ties to the independent dance scene. She feels particularly at home in integrative art forms and at the interfaces between different disciplines.
Modular seating islands that can constantly take on new shapes and functions, delicate sculptures made of rubber bands, metre-long upcycled robes made of truck tarpaulins that drape a protective cloak over the architecture, yellow cable ties on railings – anyone who has attended asphalt Festival events in recent years will recognise Katharina Andes’ signature style. The artist has been designing the festival spaces for asphalt since 2021 and marks the venues in the cityscape with artistic works under the project title ‘kLEID | rAUM | kANDES’ (clothing | space | patterns).
In her installations, the trained fashion designer interweaves architecture and textiles, clothing and space in particular. As a scenographer for public spaces, she designs her experiential spaces to be sustainable and tailors them to the respective location, adapting and developing them further. Her works pursue a participatory approach and are designed for interaction with people.
Katharina Andes has designed three groups of artistic works for the asphalt Festival: her encounter islands are a flexible furniture concept based on the organic shape of a honeycomb. The modular elements can be arranged in various ways and serve as seating, standing tables and barrier-free furniture. They create open, adaptable spaces for exchange and encounter – a lively interplay of form, function and community.
The installations entitled CONNECTIONS explore cohesion under tension. Space-creating rubber bands stretch between architecture and environment, expanding, yielding and forming a flexible structure. The elastic structures connect and separate at the same time. Between tension and relaxation, a dynamic interplay of space, body and material emerges. CLOTHING AS SPACE explores the garment as a protective space, as a home for the body. Six-metre-long robes unfold in the vastness, while architectural coats made from upcycled truck and tent tarpaulins form a protective space that transcends itself. In the wind, an interplay between limitation and unfolding emerges – the dress becomes a transformable space, a shell in which the body seems to transcend itself.
