About

To be cared for is to be maintained. Replacement is a tool of maintenance.

To be maintained for value outside of a capitalist preoccupation is in itself radical; therefore it may not come as a surprise that the Kabinett, abandoned by its authorities and occupied by our art collective, was recently removed. 

Nadia Lesniarek’s original intervention was intended to be displayed within Kabinett walls. She would have performed acts of maintenance and care usually reserved for highly valued, “closed interior” spaces. Since the Kabinett’s sudden removal on the day before installation, this was no longer possible. Instead, a discussion into the loss of the space and of how to maintain what is lost has arisen.

In response to the now absent space, Lesniarek created an inverse shell opposite the original site in homage. Unlike the Kabinett, the temporary, barebones structure has only one main barrier to the street: its door, which was absent during the Kabinett’s permanent residence. 

During the private view, maintained works were hung in and around the new structure and offered to passersby. 

Afterwards, the show will continue to unfold across six sites in the Camberwell area. Pictured last is a map of where you might find more ensembles and paintings of maintenance tools of body and city. The artist will replenish the stock on these sites throughout the two-week installation in lieu of the Kabinett, evoking a meditative and repetitive process of care.

Nadia Lesniarek is a Camberwell-based disabled artist, researcher and curator trained in architecture. The project is part of her art-research practice at Nadia Lesniarek Studio spanning the realms of painting, spatial installation, art-writing and community engagement.

Curated by Isabel Reed