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When considering washroom remodeling, you may want not to choose employing this German artist for such tasks.

Truly, she's an expert using sealant applicators, creating intriguing sculptures with a surprising art material. Yet longer you examine these pieces, the more it becomes apparent a certain aspect feels slightly unnerving.

Those hefty tubes made of silicone Herfeldt forms stretch past their supports on which they sit, hanging downwards towards the floor. Those twisted tubular forms expand till they rupture. Some creations break free from their transparent enclosures entirely, evolving into a magnet of debris and fibers. Let's just say the ratings would not be pretty.

At times I get an impression that objects seem animated in a room,” remarks the sculptor. This is why I started using silicone sealant because it has such an organic sensation and look.”

In fact there’s something somewhat grotesque in the artist's creations, from the suggestive swelling jutting out, hernia-like, off its base in the centre of the gallery, or the gut-like spirals made of silicone that rupture as if in crisis. On one wall, are mounted prints depicting the sculptures captured in multiple views: resembling squirming organisms picked up on a microscope, or formations on a petri-dish.

“It interests me is the idea in our bodies occurring that also have a life of their own,” the artist notes. Phenomena you can’t see or control.”

On the subject of elements beyond her influence, the poster for the show displays a photograph of the leaky ceiling at her creative space located in Berlin. It was built in the early 1970s and according to her, was instantly hated from residents since many old buildings were removed for its development. It was already in a state of disrepair as the artist – who was born in Munich although she spent her youth in northern Germany then relocating to Berlin as a teenager – began using the space.

This deteriorating space proved challenging for her work – she couldn’t hang the sculptures without fearing potential harm – but it was also compelling. Lacking architectural drawings available, no one knew the way to fix any of the issues which occurred. When the ceiling panel at the artist's area got thoroughly soaked it collapsed entirely, the only solution involved installing it with another – thus repeating the process.

Elsewhere on the property, the artist explains the water intrusion was severe that several drainage containers were installed within the drop ceiling in order to redirect the moisture elsewhere.

I understood that this place was like a body, an entirely malfunctioning system,” Herfeldt states.

This scenario reminded her of the sci-fi movie, John Carpenter’s debut 1974 film featuring a smart spaceship that develops independence. As the exhibition's title suggests from the show’s title – Alice, Laurie & Ripley – that’s not the only film shaping this exhibition. Those labels point to main characters in the slasher film, Halloween and Alien respectively. She mentions an academic paper by the American professor, outlining these surviving characters an original movie concept – women left alone to triumph.

These figures are somewhat masculine, on the silent side enabling their survival because she’s quite clever,” says Herfeldt about such characters. They avoid substances nor sexual activity. And it doesn’t matter the audience's identity, we can all identify with the final girl.”

Herfeldt sees a similarity between these characters with her creations – things that are just about holding in place under strain they’re under. So is her work focused on societal collapse than just leaky ceilings? Because like so many institutions, substances like silicone that should seal and protect from deterioration are actually slowly eroding around us.

“Oh, totally,” she confirms.

Prior to discovering her medium in the silicone gun, the artist worked with different unconventional substances. Past displays featured tongue-like shapes made from a synthetic material found in in insulated clothing or in coats. Once more, there's the feeling such unusual creations might animate – some are concertinaed like caterpillars mid-crawl, others lollop down from walls or extend through entries gathering grime from contact (She prompts people to handle and dirty her art). Like the silicone sculptures, those fabric pieces also occupy – and breaking out of – cheap looking transparent cases. The pieces are deliberately unappealing, and really that’s the point.

“They have a specific look which makes one very attracted to, while also they’re very disgusting,” Herfeldt remarks with a smile. “It tries to be absent, however, it is extremely obvious.”

Herfeldt's goal isn't pieces that offer relaxation or aesthetically soothed. Conversely, she wants you to feel discomfort, odd, maybe even amused. But if you start to feel a moist sensation overhead additionally, consider yourself this was foreshadowed.