Friederike Sophie Hoberg

My explorations have focused on art dealing with space, expressing oneself in the private and public space as well as dealing with boundaries, imposed and self imposed limits in these spaces. It’s by growing up in West Berlin, a capitalist island, squeezed between communist-run states and divided by a wall that I became very sensitive to man made restrictions. My work highlights and questions these physical and mental boundaries. It is an invitation for a journey and therefore my preferred medium is the mobile, as suspended in the air it brings to life mostly unused space, reinventing it or interacting with the elements and light around it.

“A map is not a territory” questions the self-image in a digital environment and how the representation of one self is restricted by external maps like tourist bus routes but also internal maps and codes, that give orientation but also restrict the view and hinder more diverse experiences. The visitor encounters the form of the bus map like a person standing in front of him, blocking the way. In order to get into the space the viewer has to enter through the unknown grey zone.

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The blank form gives space for thought, what tracing this route can mean for the identity of this person. Is the selfie in front of a well known site a memory or supposed to transmit status, maybe wealth, the conviction of ” I have been there” or ” I am doing great”, without this being necessarily the case. The pop colours are applied in order to hint to the pop movement in art, where popular images were used and serialised in order to show simultaneously the over heroisation, commercialisation, futility and meaninglessness of such images. The viewer can freely move through the mobile and assemble the images or just enjoy a new way of moving through the space, breaking the formatted pattern of the map.

In contrast to the tourist bus tour “Underground Voices” deals with everyday public transport, also displaying various aspects of imposed codes and maps, through the nature of fixed metro routes, but more importantly through imposed social stereotypes. There is a social and moral tension, between the public that has to ride the metro as the everyday transport to get to work and persons intervening in that space to gain a living or seek support. 

The public space has taken drastic change with Covid. The former overcrowded places are abandoned. Life has shifted from the public space to the almost exclusivity of the private space. The heartbeat of my unborn child is the accompanying noise of the Covid confinement, like the pulse of time, changing times of which no-one can yet foresee the consequences. 

The Covid mobile is made of internet images of the abandoned Paris sites printed on a simple home printer. The internet has become the only public space, as with confinement only journalists are allowed to go outside, there is no possibility anymore to take those pictures on my own. Accompanied by a compiled audio piece of the heartbeat it is the symbol that something new is coming to life.

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For previous work please visit the websites below. “Tears of joy” and “Memories of Miami” are large glass installations. Each glass element representing a moment in time. The glass elements appear in different colour shades, depending on the angel of view and uncontrollable external factors like light and wind. Just as certain factors in our life are controllable and others not, but we can always choose the angle form where to look at it. The glass mobiles invite for contemplation and also bath the surrounding space with colourful reflections, giving it a new face.

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Project websites: Pink app(ea)l / Yes and more no

contact me: fhoberg@gmx.de