hic sunt dracones

Sculpture as a Spatial-Physical DimensionMaren Maurer (b. Scherzingen, Switzerland, 1981; lives and works in Cologne) trained as a classical stage dancer before studying with Rita McBride and Rosemarie Trockel at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. Around 2012-2013, Maurer started casting a growing number of sculptures using traditional techniques in which she experiments with the alternation between positive and negative shapes to define (empty) space as an interstitial form. The artist has worked with a wide range of materials including aluminum, synthetics, rubber, and, most recently, a venerable staple of sculpture: bronze. More often than not, her own body, or parts of it, are part of the creative process as well. Yet however different Maurer's sculptures, drawings, watercolors, photographs, installations, performances, and video projections may be, space is a constant point of reference in her work-space as familiar terrain as well as regions yet to be explored: open, undefined, precarious passages play a crucial role in her art. "Hic sunt dracones" (here be dragons) is a conventional formula that appears on medieval maps to designate uncharted areas. It resurfaced in contemporary culture when the Chaos Computer Club adopted it as a motto, and now serves as the title for Maren Maurer's first monograph.With essays by Barbara Könches and Doris Krystof.