Nika Neelova After You Left They Took It Apart

“It is not enough to see architecture; you must experience it. You must observe how it was designed for a special purpose and how it was attuned to the entire concept and rhythm of a specific era. You must dwell in the rooms, feel how they close about you, observe how you are naturally led from one to the other”

Nika Neelova forms sculptural interventions that reflect on arrangements found within the everyday. Heavily influenced by overlooked or overused objects and spaces, Neelova responds to the architectural features that shape our presence on a daily basis. There’s an ongoing investigation into object and material, being constantly motivated by environments that once lived. Fragments of a space are uplifted
From this they are either abandoned or transported into a new backdrop of life. Here, Neelova has taken a cast of reconstructed door parts; units are reassembled

Investigating this encouraged me to think about ‘Species of Spaces and Other Pieces’ by Georges Perec, particularly the way the writer speaks about the home and the processes we go through when moving from one space to another, objects and surfaces are translated into new habitats, things don’t always necessarily fit into place but we try find some purpose for
Neelova selects materials that have been abandoned or neglected, often found in demolished houses, skips, and architectural salvages, environments full of waste. Materials are scavenged from diverse situations as she claims that she can “end up in a remote demolition site, where I would be uprooting rotten floors and tearing out broken staircases.” I think it’s important to reflect on how the work takes from unexpected sources and how her concepts start to feed off each other in the making. The spontaneity behind the research and collection of resources is something that I’m drawn to, coming across this everyday ‘stuff’ and constantly be inspired by it, however mundane it might be to