'A Californian Plumber' by Agnieszka Szostek at Fugitif, Leipzig

Berlin, 30.06.2020 

Dear,
It has been a long time since we last talked. A lot of things have happened in between. And here we are, we now have the occasion to speak again, but is there anything left to say? Something tells me that there is plenty left to say, and that the words are begging to be found and aligned, one after the other. In a way, the textures are here to speak for us, we touch and we believe. They are the ones making the call. It reminds me of this Californian plumber we met back then, do you remember? Yes, the one that fixed your sink. His appearance did make everything blur, I honestly cannot recall much from that afternoon. He was telling all these stories, of homes, of places, around and about. My attention span got sucked in into the black hole of a never ending monologue. Into a coded matrix of signs, numbers, skins and metals. It was hard to follow then and it is hard to fathom now.
It was funny to hear about his relation to the idea of home though, entering private spaces, to fix things. He arrives in a broken environment and leaves a functioning one behind, once the work is done. Homemade work and techniques that were taught, are applied within the secrecy of walls, away from the undesired gaze of the other. What if this was in fact made for all of us to see? I like to entertain that thought, seeing all these man made constructions strip naked, left bare for the whole world to engorge, like those transparent ant houses where the viewers can see how they go on about their day, digging tunnels after tunnels. Anyway, I am drifting off here, it was just this idea of material and techniques as a discursive opener for all the rest that was to come. I found it fascinating. I think we can also become self taught plumbers, fixing homes and morphing those into stories and tales that are waiting to be told during the next call. I hope you are doing well where you are, and that people treat you good. You deserve it, it was best for you to leave back then and that was no easy call. I believe it is time for me to leave you now dear friend, I hope we can work together again, towards something better.
See you soon, and in the meantime, I wish you all the best