Trypophobia

Testing Material Limits The Norwegian-German artist Yngve Holen (b. Braunschweig, 1982; lives and works in Berlin) uses sculpture and imaging techniques to explore themes of transportation, technology, and the body. The multiple series of works he made between 2010–2015 illustrate Holen’s use of 3D printing, water-cutting, tailoring, and consumer spare parts to test the material limits that define today’s industries and our everyday surroundings. Trypophobia is Holen’s first monograph and includes seven essays by writers and artists. Repeatedly alternating between satin and uncoated papers, the book phases between serial images and text. It begins with a SWOT analysis of the artist by Aedrhlsomrs Othryutupt Lauecehrofn that evaluates Holen’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Victoria Camblin discusses Holen’s use of industrial objects that feature holes, exploring the esoteric and erotic significance of the form in art history. Combining an essay with an interview with the artist, Thom Bettridge considers our obsession with hygiene, the consumer-as-product, and how far an idea can go before it stops working. S01E01 writes about the psychological implications of today’s industrial speed, particularly through our relationship to commercial air travel. Outlining the problems of “the contemporary,” Pablo Larios examines the animism and fetishism of capitalism, coded forms of closed trade knowledge, and biological humor in sculpture. Karl Holmqvist looks at Holen’s 3D-printed, titanium-grade metal Hater Head screw and the role such tiny objects play in the built environment as well as in our minds and fantasies. Finally, Eric Schmid probes the gap between the spaces of thought of philosophers Alain Badiou and Jacques Rancière, arguing for determinism in our preoccupation with the event. Texts by Thom Bettridge, Victoria Camblin, Karl Holmqvist, Pablo Larios, Aedrhlsomrs Othryutupt Lauecehrofn, S01E01, Eric Schmid