KAFTAN_SCHNAKEN Table #2

KAYA is a complex construct. It consists of Debo Eilers and Kerstin Brätsch, a sculptor and a painter who studied together and have been collaborating under this name since 2010. But KAYA also refers to Kaya Serene, a young woman who is friends with Eiler's family and who lent her name to the project—and in this work, her body as well. On a stage-like table (produced by the company Schnakenberg) lies a cast of Serene’s youthful body, surrounded by an “entombed” painting on polyester foil, which is attached to the table with straps and buckles. The body is adorned with coins, or rather tokens, thus literally “capitalized.” In this way, KAYA makes clear what has long determined our reality: our lives are imbued with value creation and youth constitutes significant capital.