Chiara Valci Mazzara

On the occasion of her first solo presentation in Berlin, Alter Ego, Aotearoa New Zealand born artist Gill Gatfield conceived a project in two chapters – a large scale crystal-glass sculpture for the foyer of the Kunstverein am Rosa Luxemburg Platz – The Muses – presented last November and Native Tongue XR the public space virtual reality installation – which talk and expand towards the human being.

Native Tongue XR is the extended reality alter ego of a sculpture carved from the heartwood of a giant tree buried in Aotearoa New Zealand before the last Ice Age. The analogue twin is a public artwork, a taonga (treasure), a totem steeped in its own place, another continent half a world away. The virtual reality sculpture, presented in the public green space between Almstadt- and Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße, stands in simpatico with The Muses. It is a fourth I-figure, a sculptural volume described digitally in air, yet lifelike and perceivable, a spirit figure, proof of life, bringing the past into the present tense. 

Through the virtual rendering of Native Tongue XR, Gill Gatfield translates and transforms further her production, demonstrating her finesse of the artistic process, media and materials perception. At the threshold of reality and digital stimulation, the sensation of synaesthesia occurs, completing the Alter Ego journey into a multi-layered, poetic, philosophical world.

Gill Gatfield (1963) transforms ancient and futuristic materials and media into otherworldly abstract forms, sparking connections between nature, time, humanity and place. Her work has won international awards, commissions for place-making art, and is held in public and private collections in NZ, Australia, USA and Europe. International exhibitions include Sculpture by Sea Perth Australia 2021, VSC Alumx USA 2020, Venice Architecture Biennale 2018, A18 New York, Chicago Expo 2018, SCAPE Public Art 2017, and Sculpture by Sea Aarhus Denmark 2015. Gill Gatfield holds an MA(Hons) Auckland University. Awards and recognition include sole Juror, WomanMade International Open Chicago 2015, residency and solo exhibition Kvindemuseet/KØN Denmark 2015, international CODA award 2017 Public Art Landscape Award, New Zealand Woman of Influence award 2018, Sculpture Fellowship and residency Vermont Studio Centre 2019, Creative NZ Art Grants 2019 and 2020, CODAworx Creative Revolutionary 2020