Artwork by Laura Mahnke - subterranean, 2025
Upcoming

February 12 – 15
Annual Exhibition
HFBK Hamburg

May 25 – June 7
Duo with Paula Hoffmann & other accomplices
Westwerk, Hamburg
I am a digger. I dig my hands into matter, searching for the hidden and obscured. I transfer literary concepts like the surrealist Écriture Automatique and Stream of Consciousness into sculpture. At the core of my work lies a radically leftist yet romantic worldview that permeates my artistic travels. My practice focuses on actual or metaphorical flesh, blurred memories, (inner) landscapes, and the present time. Emotions like rage, yearning, bitterness, melancholy, and shame move me deeply. I explore these themes through Haptic Research—by touching and shaping clay, charcoal, graphite, ink, and metal oxides, to create sculptures and installations. My Pourings are live interventions with liquid porcelain that remain as floor sculptures in the exhibition space. I pursue desire-driven, visceral paths of production that translate my inner images directly into tangible form through my hands.
The Constitution, 2025
6 uniques from stoneware, 31,5 – 32,5 x 21,5 – 22,5 x 7,5 cm
Accompanied by poems
Photographs: Charlotte Spiegelfeld
Red – fire, flesh, lust, hot, life, blood & rust
Black – universe, grief, eternal, cold
Brown – moist, earth, embracing, warm
Silver – tear, river, lightning, stars
Blue – deep sea, night sky, yearning
Amorphous Series, 2025
7 uniques from stoneware, size of two hands
Photographs: Charlotte Spiegelfeld
Here, I explore my artistic ancestry and belonging. I consider other artists, musicians, and writers a greatly cherished source of inspiration and wisdom. These are, among others: Patti Smith, Tia Blake, Bridget St John, Joan Baez, Nick Drake, Annie Ernaux, Sylvia Plath, Edouard Louis, Maggie Nelson, Lynda Benglis, Valie Export, Nan Goldin, Sarah Lucas (tbc.).
subterranean, 2025
2 pieces
Stoneware, metal oxides, glaze, graphite
Size of two hands
Photographs: Charlotte Spiegelfeld
Artwork by Laura Mahnke - subterranean, 2025
Artwork by Laura Mahnke - subterranean, 2025
Hopeless Romantic Night Lovers, 2025
2 pieces
Stoneware, metal oxides, glaze, graphite
Size of two hands
Photographs: Charlotte Spiegelfeld
Artwork by Laura Mahnke: Hopeless Romantic Night Lovers, 2025
Artwork by Laura Mahnke: Hopeless Romantic Night Lovers, 2025
Prendre la parole, 2022 – 2024
Installation
Site-specific dimensions and amount of objects
Here: 80 objects, 3,5 x 8 , 3 meters

The work is accompanied by multiple public debating sessions with pottery, écriture automatique, and readings
All the content and images created by the author and presented on this website are subject to German copyright laws. All photos taken by the artist. Third-party contributions are indicated as such. No part of this website may be duplicated, edited, distributed or exploited in any other way without prior written approval being obtained from the author.
© Laura Mahnke, 2025