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© Marlies von Soden
© Marlies von Soden
© Uta Starling
© Alexander H. Schulz

Marlies von Soden

  • Plastic sculptor
  • Berlin, Germany
  • Master Artisan
Marlies von Soden Plastic sculptor
Contact
German, English
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+49 3021755845
© Lucie Jansch

Capturing a moment in time

  • • Marlies makes polypropylene sculptures
  • • The extruder is her tool, just as a brush is for a painter
  • • Light illuminates her sculptures from within

Berlin-based Marlies von Soden worked on costume and set design for film and theatre for more than 30 years. At the beginning of the 1980s, she accidentally came across a material that would change her life forever: polypropylene. With the sole aid of an extruder, she creates one-of-a-kind 'light sculptures' that are cut from molten plastic: in less than 20 seconds she has to give the plastic a shape, before it cools and solidifies. At the end of a day’s work, 60 shapes are heaped on the ground, but Marlies will keep only five or six. The others, either because they are imperfect or not to her taste, will be thrown away.

Read the full interview

Works

  • © Marlies von Soden
  • © Manfred H. Vogel
  • © Alexander H. Schulz
  • ©Alexander H. Schulz
Photo: © Marlies von Soden
OPUS 48_a

A pink plastic sculpture rises like a cloud of smoke atop a lightbox, blurring the boundary between object and surrounding space. Through her works, Marlies endeavours to catch and immortalise fleeting moments, transferring this fascination to extruded pieces of plastic that she shapes as they are pushed out of the extruder in their malleable hot state.

Length 45 cm
Width 35 cm
Height 25 cm

Photo: © Manfred H. Vogel
OPUS 48_c

To recreate the ephemeral folds of clothing, Marlies has stretched out a block of plastic creating a white translucent cavernous wave-like form. The organic folds and relief of OPUS 48_c are accentuated by the inner light of the plinth on which the piece stands.

Diameter 70 cm
Height 110 cm

Photo: © Alexander H. Schulz
OPUS 48_d

A lightbulb placed inside an extruded plastic sculpture accentuates the semi-opaque properties of the sculpture and emphasises its folds. Influenced by her experience as a costume designer for both theatre and cinema, Marlies endeavours to immortalise through her works the fleeting folds and volumes of clothing.

Diameter 13 cm
Height 28 cm

Photo: ©Alexander H. Schulz
OPUS 48_e

This semi-opaque pink extruded plastic sculpture has been shaped and then captured inside a plastic case. Influenced by her experience as a costume designer for both theatre and cinema, Marlies endeavours to immortalise through her works the fleeting folds and volumes of clothing.

Height 200 cm
Width 50 cm
Length 50 cm

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