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If you're planning restroom upgrades, it's advisable not to choose engaging this German artist to handle it.

Indeed, Herfeldt is an expert using sealant applicators, producing intriguing creations with a surprising substance. However longer you examine these pieces, the stronger you realise that something feels slightly strange.

The thick tubes of sealant she produces extend past the shelves where they rest, sagging over the sides below. Those twisted foam pipes bulge until they split. Certain pieces escape the display cases entirely, turning into an attractor for dust and hair. One could imagine the reviews would not be favorable.

At times I get the feeling that items seem animated in a room,” says Herfeldt. Hence I started using silicone sealant because it has such an organic sensation and look.”

Certainly there is an element almost visceral regarding these sculptures, starting with that protruding shape that protrudes, like a medical condition, from the support at the exhibition's heart, or the gut-like spirals from the material which split open resembling bodily failures. Along a surface, the artist presents images showing the pieces viewed from different angles: appearing as squirming organisms observed under magnification, or formations in a lab setting.

“It interests me is the idea inside human forms happening that seem to hold their own life,” she says. Phenomena that are invisible or control.”

On the subject of unmanageable factors, the exhibition advertisement promoting the event features an image showing a dripping roof within her workspace in the German capital. It was built in the early 1970s and according to her, was quickly despised from residents because a lot of historic structures were removed for its development. By the time in a state of disrepair as the artist – a native of that city yet raised near Hamburg prior to moving to the capital as a teenager – began using the space.

This deteriorating space caused issues for the artist – she couldn’t hang her pieces without concern risk of ruin – yet it also proved compelling. With no building plans on hand, it was unclear methods to address any of the issues that developed. After a part of the roof at the artist's area became so sodden it fell apart fully, the sole fix meant swapping the damaged part – and so the cycle continued.

In a different area, Herfeldt says the leaking was so bad so multiple drainage containers were installed within the drop ceiling to channel the moisture elsewhere.

“I realised that the building resembled an organism, a completely flawed entity,” Herfeldt states.

The situation reminded her of the sci-fi movie, John Carpenter’s debut cinematic piece about an AI-powered spacecraft that develops independence. Additionally, observers may note given the naming – Alice, Laurie & Ripley – more movies have inspired shaping the artist's presentation. The three names indicate the leading women from a horror classic, Halloween and Alien as listed. She mentions an academic paper from a scholar, that describes these surviving characters a distinctive cinematic theme – women left alone to triumph.

These figures are somewhat masculine, reserved in nature and she can survive thanks to resourcefulness,” she elaborates regarding this trope. “They don’t take drugs nor sexual activity. It is irrelevant the audience's identity, all empathize with the final girl.”

She draws a connection between these characters and her sculptures – things that are just about holding in place under strain affecting them. Is the exhibition more about cultural decay beyond merely dripping roofs? As with many structures, these materials meant to insulate and guard against harm in fact are decaying within society.

“Oh, totally,” says Herfeldt.

Before finding inspiration with sealant applicators, she experimented with alternative odd mediums. Recent shows included organic-looking pieces crafted from a synthetic material found in within outdoor gear or inside a jacket. Similarly, one finds the sense these peculiar objects seem lifelike – certain pieces are folded like caterpillars mid-crawl, pieces hang loosely off surfaces blocking passages gathering grime from contact (The artist invites audiences to interact leaving marks on pieces). As with earlier creations, these nylon creations are also housed in – and breaking out of – cheap looking acrylic glass boxes. The pieces are deliberately unappealing, which is intentional.

“The sculptures exhibit a particular style which makes one highly drawn to, yet simultaneously being quite repulsive,” Herfeldt remarks with a smile. “It tries to be not there, yet in reality extremely obvious.”

Herfeldt's goal isn't pieces that offer comfortable or beauty. Instead, she wants you to feel unease, odd, or even humor. But if you start to feel something wet dripping overhead additionally, remember the alert was given.