b. 1967 Cologne, Germany/Lives and works in Cologne, Germany, and London, United Kingdom

Alexandra Bircken’s sculptures and installations consist of knitted together bits of wood, branches, stone, metal, dried plants, and leather. The objects come in many forms: cuddly wool-covered stubs and rocketlike shapes, webs that have caught detritus and treasures alike, and weighty buds and flowers that dangle on the end of a potted stem. Bircken’s involvement with the preciousness and abjection of fashion and flower arrangement synthesizes a homely, therapeutic, arts-and-crafts aesthetic to create amuletlike objects that border on the spiritual, if not the occult.

Bircken studied fashion design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. Her most recent solo exhibition, Klotze was held at BQ in Cologne (2006). Bircken’s artwork has been shown in the following group exhibitions: Dereconstructionat Gladstone Gallery, New York (2006); Das Grosse Rasenstuck Outdoor Sculpture Project, Nuremberg (2006); Solo Show Herald Street, London (2005); and Other People’s Projects, Herald St. White Columns, New York (2005).