Maintenance Tools of Body and City

About

The installation gathers and replenishes representations of useful objects on a site of restoration. The Camberwell Kabinett functions as a form of maintaining a formally abandoned kiosk and makes new use of the space in which it was restored. 

Objects are assembled, hung lightly, tucked into the Kabinett's interior. The objects are paintings and small tactile sculptures  depicting tools of use: maintenance tools for the body and the city. Each depicts the artist's hands with a tool in the process of maintaining. 

To maintain is: to replace (a lightbulb), to restore (a relic), to paint over (graffiti), to tidy (the street), to check into (a friendship), to fix (a machine), to water (a plant), to rest (a body), to relieve (from pain). 

Hands represent agency, function, gesture, and touch. They can relieve pains through touch, they can hold others, and give affection. They can give a helping hand.

The installation is contained yet unguarded. The artworks are available to be taken, moved and removed by passersby on the street. The artist will visit the Kabinett once a day during the show and replenish its stock, replacing any taken objects with new ones.

Replacement is also a tool of maintenance.

Nadia Lesniarek is a Camberwell-based disabled artist, researcher and curator trained in architecture. The project is part of her art-research practice at Nadia Lesniarek Studio spanning the realms of painting, spatial installation, art-writing and community engagement.