What Does It Mean To Be Inside of Something? (Ethereal Space) | 2025

About the artist

„The mother architecture now establishes the associative link to the ‘oceanic feeling’ of the all connected and all-encompassing. Floor, wall, and ceiling, the structural equivalents of orthogonal three-dimensionality, are transformed into an amorphous shell, and the enclosed space becomes volume. Could it be that the spirit of modernism is materializing less in a seemingly decorless rationalism of steel, glass, and concrete, and instead revealing itself in a new, elastic body-oriented approach?“ – Kay von Keitz on „Soft Modernism“ about the work of Gabi Schillig / June 2025

In her work, Gabi Schillig experimentally explores space and architecture as extensions of the living body—as responsive, dynamic mediums of communication. space is not static or immobile, but alive and evolving, deeply interwoven with human presence and bodily experience. bodies, spaces, and actions are not distinct entities, but mutually dependent and intimately connected. Her work centers on the creation of soft, ephemeral architectures— textile shells, spatial structures, skins, and sometimes almost immaterial membranes—that challenge rigid spatial boundaries. these soft architectures act as spatial mediators, transforming inside and outside into fluid, permeable zones. They invite tactile and embodied dialogues, enabling new ways of being in space – from digital imaginary drawings, photography, spatial installation, performance, videos and woven textiles. Softness is a powerful spatial, material and social concept. It allows for adaptability, malleability, and resonance. It embodies fragility, fluidity, and even instability—but within these qualities lies a deep transformative potential: if something is soft it remains open to change. In times of global crisis, where hardness dominates political, social, and ecological narratives, she sees softness as a methodology of transformation—an ethics of care and co-existence. Her work seeks to create soft spatialities: open, protective environments that foster intimacy, tenderness, and mutual awareness between humans, space and other forms of life.

Gabi Schillig is an artist who creates experimental dialogical spatial structures and communication spaces. She studied architecture in Coburg and Conceptual Design at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Her work, which she develops in her artistic practice within the framework of her Studio for Dialogical Spaces, is shown in international contexts and exhibitions. She has received numerous scholarships and awards, including from the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Van Alen Institute New York, Largo das Artes Rio de Janeiro, and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. Gabi Schillig lives in Berlin and teaches as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 2023, she has been working regularly in Japan, where she continues her artistic research on topologies of softness.