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Not a city that was

“Not a city that was”

Maria Appleton´s work explores the relationship between bodies and spaces/places, using textiles as a medium that allows different perspectives upon an architectural system. In Pforzheim, Maria Appleton created a work in the former public swimming pool hall, one of the few remaining historical buildings in this city. Because this place is not physically accessible and can only be visited virtually, her work deals with concepts of presence, healing properties and mindscapes, being in direct relationship with the »Bad« culture in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

https://mariappleton.squarespace.com/nicht-eine-stadt-die-war

NICHT EINE STADT, DIE WAR
NOT A CITY THAT WAS

It is not about death
It is about the virtual and the real.
About the real and its nature.
It is about so natural that seems unreal,
and distortion that is true.
It is about bodies in spaces
In places looking for them..
It is about fabric, fluid, water like it.
It is not about death,
It is not about a city that doesn’t exist
It is not about memory
But about a celebratory existence of the new.
About the present that is in front,
Rising, turning into future
In present space
Onde presencialmente estou

It is about physicality
About the dough
About the power of physics and scientific looking through
Reliable – Perspective – incapable of being from one
point.
It is about a space that is always a continuum:
vertically and horizontally.
It is about healing,
Sanus per Aquam,
It is about you – diving,
Me – observing
It is about Connection Interconnection and Interstitiality.
It is about you towards the hole
Leaning against
or under the whole.
A space that partially was non existent
If you didn’t, in it, exist
Now that you do
It is matter forever
It is the chance
The possibility
Of a reality, conceived, understood
It is not about preconception
It is The allowance for free conception
By you
Rising a city
A city of new beginnings
It is not about a city that was,
Its is not about fixing
Its is not about death
It is a sacred – standing – manifestation on being
present
on zeitgeist
on you in space.

Maria Appleton 2020


Maria Appleton

Maria Appleton comes from Lisbon, Portugal, where she completed a two-year training course in textile design. She then moved to London, where she graduated in textile design from Chelsea College of Arts, UAL, in July 2019. In 2018 she received a scholarship from Kyoto University of Technology for a research project in the field of textiles. She also developed a sustainable collection for children’s clothing with Zara and designed shoe prototypes for NIKE. Maria Appleton currently lives and works in Lisbon.

maria-appleton.com