Suspended in a pale green aluminium industrial boxed frame, a piece of copper appears flayed and stretched by tension cables. This copper element with its suggestions of elemental iconography was originally shown in Canary Wharf in 2021, where it mellowed, absorbing patina from the elements there. The surrounding pale green aluminium framework nods subtly to, and in harmony with, a natural outside setting, creating another tension from its own history as a standard fabricated shelving unit, that is then specifically adapted for this piece. Here is a trace history at play.

Miehling’s sculptural practice engages with what it means for an artwork to respond to the place in which it is sited and its relating contexts. Seeking to reframe and extend the notion of site-specificity within the urgency of environmental awareness, Miehling’s site-context responsiveness recognises that the site is enmeshed in ecological processes, regardless of whether the site is urban or rural, inside or outside, public or private, digital or physical. By adopting a sectional, easily packed and reassembled model he aims to operate an art practice that allows works to evolve, yet travel internationally in a sustainable way, developing a conceptualisation of sculpture-as-place.

The individual elements – copper, stainless steel, aluminium and cable wires - are held together by turnbuckles with industrial precision.

Marco Miehling (b.1986, Germany) and has been a recipient of several prestigious awards and residencies including: Fundación Casa Wabi ArtReview Open Call Oaxaca, Mexico; The Claire and Eduardo Villa Will Trust; Art Biesenthal Residency, Biesenthal-Berlin; Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa; Spotlight Award 2018 at Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer; William Benington Gallery, UK and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Recent exhibitions include: Spazio Norbert Salenbauch, Venice, Italy; BrookeBenington at Canary Wharf; London, UK; Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg, South-Africa; 5th and 6th Editions, Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer; Fulmer, UK; Thames-side Gallery; London, UK; Art Biesenthal Summer Show 2020 curated by Tjioe Hecken, Biesenthal-Berlin; Royal Society of Sculptors Bursary at Grizedale Sculpture - Grizedale Forrest, UK; Selfridges Art Block Commission in partnership with Yorkshire Sculpture Park curated by Helen Pheby; London, UK; An Arrangement in Two Halves, a Bench in Two Parts | with James Fuller - William Benington Gallery (with Lily Brooke); London, UK.