toutdoux: gong bath, 2021 

Lacquered steel, bronze gongs

160 x 100 x 135cm 

Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld's sculpture tout doux: gong bath (2021) stands on the terrace. It is an instrument in the form of a seated female figure made of blue steel, from which two gongs hang at chest level. In many cultures, gongs are believed to have healing properties and are considered magical. Bronze is also an antimicrobial material. However, touching them with your hand will leave marks on the instruments, especially if your hands are still wet from swimming. The title tout doux can also be translated as sound: to do.

Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld (*1979, Berlin) is humorously searching for relevant actualizations of so-called folk wisdom and explores different ways of producing knowledge and truth. Her laboratories materialize in installations, performances, sculptures, instruments, photographs, and collages. Most recently, her work has been on view at the Boros/Berghain Collection and the MAK in Vienna. New Mexico State University recently commissioned her to create a public sculpture.