Created for the exhibition Kinderspiel, protective shield was an intervention on the threshold between the exhibition space and the adjacent kindergarten. A steel grating was mounted to protect the gallery from danger – here it bends inside and protrudes far through the open window into the room. Due to this gesture, the building element is not only defective, it virtually invites into the area it was meant to protect.
In the context of the cycle of works around Kinderspiel, this work raises psychological-pedagogical questions about safety and care – perhaps over-care. protective shield leaves open which side is the one to be protected, but puts up for debate which psychological relationship between inside and outside is the right one here.
It is also about shelter and privacy, which are rigorously invaded here. In the process, protective shield repeatedly asks the question: What are we protecting?
