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Should you be thinking about bathroom renovations, you may want not to choose employing the sculptor to handle it.

Certainly, Herfeldt is a whiz in handling foam materials, creating intriguing creations with a surprising medium. But the more observe these pieces, the clearer one notices that an element seems somewhat off.

The dense tubes from the foam she produces stretch over their supports where they rest, hanging over the sides to the ground. Those twisted silicone strands bulge till they rupture. Certain pieces break free from the display cases fully, evolving into an attractor of debris and fibers. One could imagine the reviews are unlikely to earn positive.

At times I get this sense that items possess life in a room,” says the sculptor. Hence I started using silicone sealant because it has this very bodily sensation and look.”

Certainly there is an element almost visceral about the artist's creations, from that protruding shape that protrudes, like a medical condition, off its base at the exhibition's heart, to the intestinal coils from the material that rupture like medical emergencies. On one wall, Herfeldt has framed images depicting the sculptures seen from various perspectives: resembling squirming organisms picked up on a microscope, or colonies in a lab setting.

“It interests me is the idea within us taking place which possess their own life,” the artist notes. Elements which remain unseen or manage.”

Regarding unmanageable factors, the poster for the show displays a photograph showing a dripping roof at her creative space in Kreuzberg, Berlin. It was made in the seventies and, she says, was instantly hated by local people since many older edifices got demolished in order to make way for it. By the time dilapidated when Herfeldt – who was born in Munich although she spent her youth in northern Germany prior to moving to the capital as a teenager – moved in.

This deteriorating space caused issues for her work – placing artworks was difficult her art works anxiously they might be damaged – however, it was fascinating. With no building plans available, nobody had a clue the way to fix the malfunctions which occurred. Once an overhead section at the artist's area became so sodden it collapsed entirely, the only solution involved installing the damaged part – and so the cycle continued.

At another site, Herfeldt says the water intrusion was severe that a series of drainage containers were set up above the false roof to channel the water to a different sink.

I understood that the structure acted as a physical form, an entirely malfunctioning system,” Herfeldt states.

These conditions brought to mind a classic film, the initial work 1974 film featuring a smart spaceship that develops independence. Additionally, observers may note from the show’s title – Alice, Laurie & Ripley – other cinematic works influenced to have influenced Herfeldt’s show. The three names indicate the female protagonists in the slasher film, Halloween and Alien as listed. She mentions a 1987 essay from a scholar, which identifies these surviving characters an original movie concept – women left alone to save the day.

“She’s a bit tomboyish, on the silent side enabling their survival thanks to resourcefulness,” she elaborates of the archetypal final girl. No drug use occurs or have sex. It is irrelevant who is watching, we can all identify with the final girl.”

The artist identifies a parallel between these characters to her artworks – things that are just about staying put under strain they face. Is the exhibition really concerning social breakdown beyond merely water damage? As with many structures, such components meant to insulate and guard us from damage in fact are decaying in our environment.

“Oh, totally,” she confirms.

Prior to discovering her medium in the silicone gun, she experimented with different unconventional substances. Recent shows have involved tongue-like shapes using the kind of nylon fabric typical for in insulated clothing or apparel lining. Once more, there's the sense these peculiar objects might animate – some are concertinaed like caterpillars mid-crawl, pieces hang loosely off surfaces or extend through entries collecting debris from touch (Herfeldt encourages people to handle and dirty her art). Like the silicone sculptures, those fabric pieces also occupy – and breaking out of – inexpensive-seeming acrylic glass boxes. These are unattractive objects, which is intentional.

“The sculptures exhibit a certain aesthetic which makes one compelled by, yet simultaneously they’re very disgusting,” the artist comments amusedly. “The art aims for invisible, yet in reality extremely obvious.”

Herfeldt's goal isn't work to make you feel comfortable or beauty. Instead, she aims for unease, strange, or even humor. But if you start to feel a moist sensation overhead too, don’t say you haven’t been warned.