Time, space and the concept of reality are notions inseparably linked to Alicja Kwade's universe, and this since she began a career characterised by the disposition of elements either simple or lending themselves to greater complexities: laid out on the floor, suspended from the ceiling, embracing a  third dimension or starkly on show, hanging on the wall. What these components offer the eye is a physical reality generated by a process of transmutation. A sort of alchemy nonetheless free of any mystical ambitions. Anxious to maintain a link with prosaic things, Kwade strives for a visible traceability with the objects or motifs, often close to hand, as well as with the materials (like gold, lead, copper) on which she has set her sights.

Time  and  space  are  likewise  summoned  up  in  Kwade's  sculptures,   which combine improbable funnels with interlocking geometrical modules.  One  might  be  tempted  to  establish  a  shared  genealogy  for   the  two,  except  that  their  interlocking  reveals  no  prior  history  and  it   is highly probable that, as in a symbiotic entity, a common growth has sealed  their  evolution.  In  any  case,  the  copper  funnels  trace  vectors   defining a three-dimensional reality and, of course, evoke instruments which are creating music through the vibration of their resonant bodies.

Some  of  the  variables  in  her  approach  refer  to  abstract  concepts,   starting with string theory, which she cites as one of the references for her  tubular  sculptures.  Others  are  "ordinary".  But  they  systematically   reflect  a  poetic  quality,  like  a  lamp  covered  with  fabric  and  set  in   bronze, concealing its morphology. An enigmatic "world base". A pair  of  balancing  acts  formed  by  a  light  bulb  and  a  stone  driven  by  a   gravitational and centrifugal force. Not to mention a simple clock with an out-of-sync second hand, as if in the grip of a strange natural force. This quality becomes meaningful if we remember that the word poem in its German translation, Gedicht, refers to density (Dichte). Like day density.