Öffnungszeiten

Separating the look of the things that surround us in everyday life from their functions, they appear increasingly abstract: suddenly their design becomes apparent, as at a certain point in time all things were designed, produced and installed, and later perhaps patched together or remodelled. As a sculptor, Nicole Wermers traces the complex relations between use and design, the un-obviousness of forms, surfaces and utility. For her sculptural works, she frequently uses everyday objects, which she extracts from their original context, to augment, rearrange or immediately redesign them. A countless number of her own photographs serve as a basis for her research. It is from this pool of imagery that the work Öffnungszeiten (opening hours) originated. The object, initially an ordinary calendar with spiral binding, but ordered chronologically from May 2019 to April 2020, appears in various places: on the premises of public authoriand businesses, at other project locations and at the project’s partners. Month after month, in an image section, it displays the opening times of various other shops, service providers and authorities. The times they are open to speak to the public or for trading, as well as the texts and typography used differ significantly –from the embossed to the handwritten. Without the distraction of personal chores, which in everyday life are frequently thwarted by the messages on such signs, their individual character becomes all the more apparent and contrasts with the consistent design of the likewise time structuring monthly planners below.

Additionally, Nicole Wermers is currently working on a piece for the Emscherkunstweg.