The series tapis concrète contains carpets and tapestries made of ashes, concrete and textiles. Separated and disassembled components, elements and substances – oftentimes materials that can be traced back to the human exploitation of resources, such as ashes from coal mines, wooden ash, cement, different types of soil and textiles – are expanded in their properties and combined in hybrid fabrics and structures. In a practice of unlearning, the textile becomes the support for the concrete, which is thereby transformed into fragile and lightweight material.

The social construction and binary attribution of gender-based properties – concrete in its association with architecture as a masculine, monolithic practice on the one hand and textiles, carpets, patchworks as a traditionally feminine craft on the other – are interwoven here. Existing orders or hierarchies begin to crumble, unravel, disintegrate.

Marei Loellmann`s way of working gives space to the materials and processes, making use of chance and decay in order to form different narratives and combine them into a whole. At the same time, the fragile character of the resulting works holds the potential to generate experiences out of the fractures and cracks, inviting us to consider things from different perspectives, to deconstruct existing structures and to formulate novel approaches.

tapis concrète n°10

concrete, lashing straps, leather, handwoven linen