Allemagne – Nuremberg
A multidisciplinary artist and designer, Collin Townsend Velkoff presents himself as a creative strongly influenced by material experimentation, science fiction, archaeology, and architecture. A graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, Collin Townsend Velkoff went into exile in Finland for his master’s degree at Aalto University in Helsinki.
His practice? Explore the combination of methodologies and materials from the industrial world with organic form languages. Based in Germany in Nuremberg, the American creates, through this unique grammar, stories through the creation of unique objects, created by hand in his workshop.
Among his most unique creations, the “Human Element” series, which aims to capture humanity’s dependence on the environment and its materials. To create these works of art, Collin Townsend Velkoff developed a sand-molding technique. The artist pours concrete shapes on a stone before wrapping the two elements in sand. Once the cement sculptures have hardened and connected to the base organic, he removes sand by hand. A process of creation and revelation, which transforms the piece into a true work of performative art.
Another collection not to be missed, “Foreign Bodies,” inspired by satellites sent into space to analyze the material composition of alien bodies. “The process of space exploration illustrates our dependence on materials as a species and the influence they have on our consciousness,” says the creator. The light and chair evoke the “ARRIVAL” stage, when our earthly objects come into contact with the stranger, the beginning of our symbiotic relationship with these celestial bodies. Furniture parts suggest robots being sent to these alien bodies, sampling and studying alien materials. Mysterious and disturbing, the creations of Collin Townsend Velkoff are to be discovered urgently.
Lisa Agostini