Non-holdings: Sculptural Mode of In-Betweenness and Material Fictions

Abstract

Non-Holdings is Lina Herrmans’ Master of Fine Art thesis project that delves into in-betweenness as a sculptural logic, exploring visual, temporal, functional, and ethical ambiguities. The thesis consists of an artistic component: an installation of ten interrelated sculptural works shown in Kuvan Kevät 2025 (Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki) and a written component that articulates the conceptual, material and procedural thinking behind the work. Together, they explore the themes of in-betweenness, marginality, and what remains unsettled between categories of form, function, and meaning.

The artistic component is built primarily through metal casting in aluminium, bronze, and tin, with selected use of concrete and steel. Works such as Surrounded by, I Start to Collect and I Feel Exactly the Same and Also Different I & II reveal a process where accidents, seams, and misalignments are not polished away but left visible as traces of time and process. These sculptural elements resemble infrastructural fragments yet refuse to declare function. Instead, they stage moments of suspension, where recognition and uncertainty coexist.

The written component frames the installation through a practice-led inquiry into connecting in-betweenness, unfixed narrative, and ambiguity to material methods and theoretical influences. It connects making and theory by reading casting as a dialogic process (material correspondence), by considering mistakes and seams as narrative traces, and by arguing for an ethics of slow, embodied perception. The text weaves theoretical interlocutors (Ursula K. Le Guin’s carrier-bag logic; Sara Ahmed on orientation; Susie Scott on the social life of nothing) with literary affinities (Ali Smith, Olga Tokarczuk, Maggie Nelson) and close readings of the exhibited works. It also addresses process, naming and installation strategies. The works do not provide answers, but hold space—materially and conceptually—for the viewer to navigate the in-between with sensitivity and openness. Ultimately, the thesis concludes by advocating for "staying with the in-between" as a generative site of practice.