Sophie Utikal

Eighteen textile pieces hanging from a bridge above the surface of the River Traisen show silhouettes of drops and humanoid figures of a light blue hue interacting with liquid-like, serpentine shapes that are shifting between physical secretion and bodily extension. 

Sophie Utikal describes her artistic method as a search for symbolic and poetic imagery related to complex topics. She translates keywords such as “togetherness”, “the spreading of (counter-)knowledge” and “relating and connecting” into legible images. Once rendered into material, she sews the textile pieces together, literally and figuratively connecting them. In this series, she moves beyond her inner self and extends her concerns towards issues such as the planet and our collective responsibilities and fantastic futures. 

The artist introduces her own speculative vision of a future, as inspired by Octavia Butler’s science-fiction trilogy Xenogenesis. The novels describe human beings as flawed because of: firstly, their striving for a hierarchical order and, secondly, their high intelligence, which, according to the author, poses a contradiction. 

As a conclusion, the story suggests that humanity needs to surpass itself, to adapt and change by creating a new post-human species. 4 Mothers further develops the idea of becoming something more than human: This, however, will be achieved not by reproducing with a different species but by growing new organs that will change how humans function in this world. These body parts leak, drip, pump and release new liquids in order to sustain others and raise multitudes of life forms rather than control them. 

As the 4 Mothers devote their time, labour and energy to leading us into this new phase of evolution, they also invite us to follow the movement of the river, to soothe and nourish while spilling into each other, in the different kinds of flows and currents, as we finally bridge the gap between our imagination and our collective survival. 

Sophie Utikal (1987, Tallahassee, US ) is a textile artist, living and working between Berlin and Vienna. She grew up in Mainz, Germany. She studied contextual painting with Ashley Hans Scheirl at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (2014-2019) and is a co-editor of the book Anti-Colonial Fantasies/Decolonial Strategies (2017). Her artworks have been shown throughout Europe, including Kristinstads Konsthal (2022), Kunsthalle Vienna (2021), Mediterranea Biennale 19 in San Marino (2021), Museion Bolzano (2018). Her most recent solo show was at Kunstraum Innsbruck (2023) and at Galerie im Turm, Berlin (2020). Her work is part of the public collection of the federal republic of Germany and private collection of Museion, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Bolzano, in South Tyrol, Italy.