C.M. (...) In the case of SOLID AERO (2018) it is not only the bronze that is important but also the process involved up to the current state. The lost wax technique is crucial; the transformation i.e. the complete conversion of wax and earth – heat, solidification, heat, solidification. I have stopped distinguishing between positive moulds and negative moulds. Negative becomes positive and positive becomes negative. I address myself to the material even during the inclusion of the layer of soil. It is actually here that three ‘materials’ fuse together; the soil, the wax and myself. I make decisions and execute movements but at no point can I really influence how the bronze will turn out. Metal is honest. With Aero (2018) I am especially interested in keeping the pure cast skin. The material is alive and reacts, it absorbs and it repels. It looks like a skin of a newly born child. Inside the fleshy wax has made its way downwards like a string of pearls; whereas on the outside, stones and sand have become an inherent component of the form and material. Form and material unite. The supposed casing was in actual fact space all the time. It redefines space and creates an entity. This entity is physical, almost capturing something representational and is, as you pointed out, part of an already existing energy system. (...)

published in: "Claudia Mann – Solid Aero", edited by Jochen Heufelder, published by Kunstraum Fuhrwerkswaage / Stefan Schuelke Fine Books, ISBN 978-3-9817863-4-7, Cologne 2018
Katharina Wendler, curator and writer: in-conversation-with #2 Claudia Mann