"Can you relate to the feeling of chewing and chewing food endlessly? Chewing a piece so long that it feels as if it grows in your mouth, becoming fibrous and seemingly impossible to swallow? Not because the food isn’t good, or because you’re not hungry, but because something is so indescribably uncomfortable that the ability to complete the eating process disappears. In the end, you’re forced to spit out the ‘chewing ball’ into a napkin, which you then shamefully fold up and hide beneath the edge of your plate."

SOMATOFORM TENDENCIES

In her artistic exploration of how psychological trauma can manifest physically, Siebke has focused on the stomach as an epicenter for somatoform disorders. Through blown glass, she has recreated the stomach, which resembles an inverted, curved pear attached to the esophagus above and the colon below. These “stomachs” vary in abstraction, with some so abstracted that they are no longer recognizable.

We have observed Siebke’s tendency to combine materials in her previous work, though not to this extent. Integrated into the sculptures, and in sharp contrast to the soft, abstracted blown forms, are intricate body parts in cast glass, teeth made of acrylic resin, human hair, and cold, hard metal.

"Can you imagine being inflicted with a pain that brings along a psychological stowaway? Something unwanted that takes residence and seemingly occupies physical space, yet cannot be medicated or removed. Through blown and cast glass combined with human material and metal, I have sought to recreate and translate the absurdity of existing in a body that no longer makes sense. I have given physical form to the experience of trauma residues accumulating to such a degree that they manifest in imagined pains and disturbances, occasionally redefining one’s sense of their own body."

Ida Siebke (b. 1991, Oslo) studied glassblowing at Kosta Glass School in Sweden from 2008 to 2011 and has since attended numerous institutions, including the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (NL), Einar Granum School of Fine Art (NO), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (US), Pilchuck Glass School (US), and AYA Glass (JP), broadening her expertise in glass art and sculpture. Siebke has participated in several juried exhibitions, such as MilanoVetro-35 (2020), the Autumn Exhibition (Høstutstillingen, 2021), the Annual Exhibition of the Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts (2021, 2022), and Talente – Masters of the Future (2024). Additionally, she has been part of numerous group exhibitions in Norway and internationally. Her work is part of the collections at KODE Art Museum in Bergen, the National Museum, Islip Art Museum, and Mestské Muzeum in Zelezny Brod, Czech Republic.

IDA SIEBKE

Somatoforme tendenser / Somatoform Tendencies

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