Alicja Kwade at Lisa Cooley

To look at it, you’d never guess that Berlin-based Alicja Kwade’s miraculously curving wooden door was fashioned from a number of old doors cut up and seamlessly pieced together.  The sculpture’s title, ‘Eadem Mutata Resurgo,’ or ‘I rise again, changed but the same,’ puts a weighty spin on Kwade’s clever reclamation of found materials but the piece nevertheless appears to be an almost magical portal into another world. (At Lisa Cooley through March 17th).  

Alicja Kwade, Eadem Mutata Resurgo, wood, 2013.

Alicja Kwade at Harris Lieberman Gallery

Alicja Kwade, Future in the Past, 8 pocket watches, amplifier, 8 speakers, 10 gold and silver coated chains, 2012.
Alicja Kwade, Future in the Past, 8 pocket watches, amplifier, 8 speakers, 10 gold and silver coated chains, 2012.

It’s easy to lose track of time while visiting galleries, but not at Chelsea’s Harris Lieberman Gallery, where Berlin-based artist Alicja Kwade amplifies the sound of eight pocket watches, hung from the gallery ceiling.  This spare installation entices viewers to wander through chains and wires, analog and digital components that prompt consideration of our place in time and space.  (Through Jan 12th.)