Alicja Kwade

Bordsteinjuwelen (Brunnenstraße), 2008

Over the course of a number of walks through Berlin, Alicja Kwade collected pebbles that were lying around on the ground. These found objects were then subjected to a facet cut using diamond-cutting equipment, giving them the form of brilliant-cut diamonds. Although the positioning of the pebbles appears random and the closeness of the display to the floor reminds us of the mundane origins of these stones taken from the street, the use of pedestals places the pebbles in an art context. The distance between singularity of the stones and their placement on a high pedestal infuses them with a kind of aura. Lifted from their everyday environment and placed in an art context, these stones, which are between 64.5 and 102 carat, also reference the world of (luxury) goods. Alongside the overall title of Bordsteinjuwelen [Curbstone Jewels], the pebbles are also named after the locations where they were found. Thanks to these topographic references, the stones can be related to the new heart of Berlin – a city-center area that has become increasingly attractive after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The elevation of Kwade’s stones to the formal appearance of diamonds corresponds with the transformation of a former East-Berlin worker district into a popular area for high culture and shopping.