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Should you be thinking about restroom upgrades, it might be wise not to choose hiring Lisa Herfeldt for the job.

Certainly, she's an expert in handling foam materials, producing intriguing artworks from this unlikely medium. Yet longer you look at the artworks, the clearer one notices that an element seems somewhat strange.

The thick strands of sealant she crafts stretch beyond their supports supporting them, hanging over the sides towards the floor. Those twisted foam pipes expand till they rupture. Certain pieces escape their transparent enclosures entirely, becoming a magnet of debris and fibers. One could imagine the ratings might not get favorable.

There are moments I feel an impression that items are alive inside an area,” states the German artist. Hence I turned to silicone sealant as it offers this very bodily sensation and look.”

Certainly one can detect somewhat grotesque regarding Herfeldt’s work, starting with the suggestive swelling which extends, like a medical condition, off its base within the showspace, to the intestinal coils from the material which split open resembling bodily failures. Along a surface, Herfeldt has framed prints of the works seen from various perspectives: appearing as wormy parasites seen in scientific samples, or colonies in a lab setting.

I am fascinated by is how certain elements within us taking place that also have independent existence,” the artist notes. Elements you can’t see or manage.”

Talking of unmanageable factors, the promotional image promoting the event features a picture showing a dripping roof in her own studio located in Berlin. It was built in the early 1970s and according to her, faced immediate dislike from residents as numerous historic structures got demolished for its development. It was already dilapidated when Herfeldt – originally from Munich yet raised near Hamburg before arriving in Berlin in her youth – began using the space.

The rundown building was frustrating for the artist – it was risky to display her pieces without fearing potential harm – however, it was compelling. With no building plans available, it was unclear the way to fix the problems that developed. After a part of the roof in Herfeldt’s studio was saturated enough it fell apart fully, the only solution meant swapping the panel with a new one – thus repeating the process.

Elsewhere on the property, the artist explains dripping was extreme that a series of collection units got placed above the false roof to divert the water to a different sink.

I understood that this place resembled an organism, a completely flawed entity,” Herfeldt states.

The situation evoked memories of a classic film, the director's first movie from the seventies about an AI-powered spacecraft that develops independence. Additionally, observers may note through the heading – Alice, Laurie & Ripley – more movies have inspired impacting this exhibition. These titles refer to main characters in Friday 13th, Halloween plus the sci-fi hit respectively. She mentions a critical analysis from a scholar, outlining the last women standing a distinctive cinematic theme – protagonists by themselves to triumph.

They often display toughness, on the silent side and they endure because she’s quite clever,” she elaborates of the archetypal final girl. “They don’t take drugs or engage intimately. And it doesn’t matter who is watching, all empathize with the survivor.”

She draws a similarity linking these figures and her sculptures – objects which only maintaining position despite the pressures affecting them. So is her work focused on social breakdown rather than simply water damage? Similar to various systems, substances like silicone meant to insulate and guard us from damage are actually slowly eroding in our environment.

“Completely,” she confirms.

Prior to discovering her medium in the silicone gun, Herfeldt used other unusual materials. Recent shows have involved forms resembling tongues crafted from the kind of nylon fabric you might see on a sleeping bag or in coats. Again there is the sense such unusual creations might animate – certain pieces are folded like caterpillars mid-crawl, others lollop down on vertical planes or extend through entries attracting dirt from footprints (The artist invites audiences to interact and dirty her art). Like the silicone sculptures, the textile works are similarly displayed in – and escaping from – cheap looking transparent cases. The pieces are deliberately unappealing, and that's the essence.

“The sculptures exhibit a particular style that draws viewers compelled by, and at the same time they’re very disgusting,” Herfeldt remarks grinning. “The art aims for invisible, but it’s actually extremely obvious.”

The artist does not create work to make you feel comfortable or beauty. Rather, she aims for uncomfortable, awkward, maybe even amused. And if there's water droplets overhead additionally, don’t say you haven’t been warned.