Unmaking Stones - Marilen Rauch

Following fieldwork in a mine, artist Marilen Rauch has built a ceramic mill and accompanying vessels to grind 300 kilograms of feldspar sand into powder throughout the exhibition. Visitors are invited to participate in collective grinding and thereby become part of an encounter between mineral, machine, and human action. The exhibition reveals place-specific stories and properties of a mineral we almost never encounter in its original form.

Unmaking Stones continues Rauch's exploration of feldspar, extraction, and the hidden material histories embedded in ceramic materials. The work builds on field studies at the former Forshammar feldspar mine in Sweden and connects to research, text, and the exhibition "Unearthing Sedimented Memories" (2025) - investigations that centre on the relationship between geological formations, mining, and ceramic production.

Feldspar is one of the most common mineral groups on Earth but is rarely found in its original form. It appears in porcelain, glass, ceramic glazes, and as a filler in paint - an invisible component of our built environment. In ceramic craft, it is usually encountered as a refined powder, far removed from its geological origin.

Marilen Rauch is a visual artist working within the expanded field of ceramics, at the intersection of site-specific installation, sound, and performative art. She works primarily with locally extracted clay, ceramic minerals, and field recordings to investigate how geological processes and human impact shape our relationship to places.

Free entry.