It’s a curious contradiction that humans choose to live so close together yet demand such intense privacy, hidden away in their secluded concrete spaces. This idea is central to Snelling’s bustling exhibition, which is filled with architectural models offering voyeuristic glimpses into the quirks of urban life.
The artist, who has lived in Berlin since 2016, is varied in her interests, jumping from a small model of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping building – the site of an infamous Donald Trump campaign press conference – to failed social housing projects, like the Vele di Scampia in Naples with its steeped turrets like a battleship. (Who’d have thought those thin floating passageways would be co-opted by drug dealers?) The windows of many of her rough-hewn housing models double as tiny screens, showing scenes from American TV classics like Breaking Bad.
There are darker moments; a model of Berlin’s Mäusebunker (a former animal testing centre) is bedecked with videos of rodents being dissected. Snelling is also intrigued by Japanese love hotels, where young men visit for ‘intimate’ encounters. In one video work, the artist visits one herself and gets dressed up.
At the end, they awkwardly stand together side by side, like children collecting a prize in an assembly. A revealing and oddly lurid exhibition. ★★★★☆
- How We Live, through Feb 9, Haus am Lützowplatz, Lützowplatz 9, Tiergarten, details.
