Kate Newby – I'M ASKING

The New Zeeland artist Kate Newby (b. 1979) developed a site-specific installation for Museum Folkwang. She selected the transitional area between the museum’s original building, opened in 1960, and the extension completed in 2010. Despite their different periods of construction, both buildings share the formal language of modernist architecture, characterised by clean lines, rectangular courtyards, and expansive glass façades. Glass and concrete, two defining materials of modernism, form the starting point for Newby’s work. In her hands, however, they become fragile, responsive materials that bear the traces of their making.

On two glass-pane doors facing the courtyard, the artist has fused vertical hand-drawn lines and numerous fingerprints into the surface. The three-dimensional texture of the glass work Good Sound reacts to light and movement, shifting in appearance throughout the day according to changing conditions and the viewer’s perspective. 

The linear forms of the glass installation continue outdoors in the concrete work I’m asking, situated on the lawn of the museum courtyard. Pale, textured concrete lines extend across the space before disappearing behind two small mounds. Here, too, visible traces of touch and pressure remain embedded in the surface. Fragments of glass collected from the museum’s surroundings further connect the two works, creating a dialogue between the interior and exterior spaces.

Newby’s intervention introduces a quieter, more tactile register into the building’s precise architectural framework. Raw and understated, the works unfold gradually, encouraging close attention to subtle shifts in light, material, and surface. Rather than announcing themselves, they operate through proximity and encounter, drawing attention to details that might otherwise go unnoticed and opening a more attentive reading of the surrounding space.