In Drei Hubwagen, Alicja Kwade (b. 1979) takes a familiar industrial object – the pallet truck – and turns it into something unexpected. Originally produced for Edition Block, the work shifts the object away from its normal function and into a sculptural and performative setting.

With small but precise changes, the pallet truck no longer serves efficiency or progress. Instead, it moves in circles, becoming a simple but clear image of endless circulation – of labour, goods, and capital – without forward movement. Referencing Marcel Duchamp’s readymades, the work opens a space where everyday tools follow new and unfamiliar rules.

The three sculptures are activated live by invited performers, turning the objects into a ballet-like performance that unfolds in real time and questions ideas of usefulness and productivity.

Alicja Kwade is a Berlin-based artist whose practice examines reality as something unstable and constructed. Through subtle transformations of everyday objects and materials, she investigates systems of value, time, and perception.

Courtesy of Edition Block, www.editionblock.de

Alicja Kwade
Drei Hubwagen, 2012/2013
Performance
Photo: Uwe Walter