Eva-Maria Reiner

Scherenschnitt/weiß, 2001

Eva-Maria Reiner’s Scherenschnitte [Silhouettes] works, which she started in 2000, are based on a different way of handling the human body’s volumes and outlines. The Scherenschnitte start by measuring the circumference of parts of the body, and these are also listed in the title of each particular work. The number of individual body part measurements fixes the number of strips of paper to be arranged one behind the other. The circumference measurements then define a circle. Reiner calls these circles ‘first circles’; they are cut out of the pieces of paper. A mathematical formula then produces a mean value for other circles, and cuts are made in the paper on this basis. Thus three-dimensional, irregular body forms are reduced to create a disciplining and exemplary system. Reiner’s morphometrics exist on the narrow ridge of two-dimensional drawing and three-dimensional relief. The absence of real physical volume creates the mutually involved presence of body and space – via the views into the holes and the relationship of the paper layers to the architecture surrounding them.