‘Architectural spaces and the appearance of building materials are the two poles between which Kilian Rüthemann develops his sculptural interventions. His point of departure is usually a concrete place whose tectonic shell provides him with the occasion to reshape it. Rüthemann works with simple substances, such as plaster, sugar or bitumen, often changing their aggregate state in the course of the creative process. Plaster is mixed with water, sugar melted with heat and then broken up when it has cooled. This gives rise to works that testify to their own mutability and transience, that occasionally embed themselves in the existing architecture, but sometimes also thwart it. By handling these simple materials in different ways, Rüthemann repeatedly tests their formal and sculptural potential. He avails himself of their variableness to reorganise space and surprise the visitors with new formations.’ Stefanie Böttcher
it is what it is 