awst and walther are collaborative artists who began their partnership in 2006. manon awst was born in 1983 in wales and studied architecture at the university of cambridge. benjamin walther was born in 1978 in germany and studied art history and philosophy at, humboldt-universitat, berlin, following which he worked extensively as a theatre director throughout germany. they currently live and work in both wales and berlin. their combined backgrounds in architecture and theatre strongly influence their ongoing exploration of intimate relationships between human beings and their physical surroundings, through the themes of power…
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awst and walther are collaborative artists who began their partnership in 2006.
manon awst was born in 1983 in wales and studied architecture at the university of cambridge. benjamin walther was born in 1978 in germany and studied art history and philosophy at, humboldt-universitat, berlin, following which he worked extensively as a theatre director throughout germany. they currently live and work in both wales and berlin.
their combined backgrounds in architecture and theatre strongly influence their ongoing exploration of intimate relationships between human beings and their physical surroundings, through the themes of power dynamics, transformative potential and the division between our mental and physical self-perception. by adopting a subtle yet critical approach to their practice, they put society's governing values and accepted behaviour under scrutiny.
in much of awst and walther's sculptural work, perhaps the discipline for which they are best known, spaces are manipulated, fractured and multiplied in ways that form new relationships, allowing the viewer to re-evaluate seemingly familiar environments. recently, the pair have been exploring the use of materials like aluminum poles, sheets of metal, mirrors, and industrial grade gelatin and other naturally transforming materials, in order to re-organise and re-conceptualise indoor and outdoor spaces.
awst and walther have exhibited extensively worldwide including latent measures, kwadrat, berlin, de (2011), let there be sculpture, new art centre, roche court, salisbury (2010), work in progress, the german embassy, london (2009), salts presents, salts, basel, ch (performance) (2010) and physical center: brooklyn, new york, usa (2010). residencies include the künstlerhaus bethanien, berlin, germany (2011) and fellowship for artists at the henry moore foundation, uk (2010).
