Tilhenn Klapper
Shapeshifters, 2025

Cypress wood, bells, fabric, beads, chain, tights

15 x 50 cm, 15 x 70 cm, 20 x 50 cm

Bats are the only mammals that can fly. When darkness falls, they begin their work in the deserted outdoor pool: controlling insect populations and pollinating plants. Despite their eerie reputation, bats are considered beneficial animals in Europe. In many Asian, African, and Indigenous American cultures – as well as in older European traditions – they are also seen as psychopomps: beings that accompany souls across the threshold between the worlds of the living and the dead. Tilhenn Klapper’s Shapeshifters draws on this hybrid symbolism of the bat. The artist hides three sculptural forms made of charred wood in a plane tree at the swimming pool – a tree whose buds are believed to have healing properties. Only the gentle sound of bells hints at the presence of the artworks, which quietly join the nocturnal visitors of the pool.