(from the series SERVANTS), 2025
body bags, plastic
116 x 37 x 84 cm
Transcription from the audio guide written by Alina Kleytman:
And if someday you hear a soft tapping on the tiles…
don’t be afraid.
It’s just her nails
rolling out on duty again.
On black little wheels.
With tiny little hands.
Legend has it,
that during one particularly critical performance,
where questions of borders, alliances, and compromises were at stake,
one of the servants rolled out from under the table,
and his tiny hand carefully guided the Diva’s heel
exactly where the emphasis needed to be placed.
In speech. In decision. In geopolitics.
Description/commentary
With names as peculiar as their forms, the six SERVANTS—MR RUFFLE, FAT EMMY, CLARA SHARPNOSE, MARCO, ONE OF, and STEVE—are ghostly appendages of a theatrical regime. Composed of body bags and plastic, each sculpture resembles an oversized fingernail balanced delicately on wheels, fitted with tiny hands—ready to serve, polish, or intervene.
These spectral creatures glide across imagined palace floors with silent devotion, echoing a hushed “yes, madam” in every rotation. They are the invisible labor behind perfection, the animated extensions of power that quietly restore order, gloss, and control. Part absurdist fantasy, part biting allegory, SERVANTS offers a vision of elite domesticity where control masquerades as cleanliness and subservience becomes a tool of command. These are not props. They are instruments of a regime where even the nails know their cue—and roll out accordingly.
And should you ever hear a faint tapping on the tiles…
do not be alarmed.
They are simply back on duty.