(I wrote this statement for my 2008 show at the Q-Club pool hall in Berlin, curated by Anna Schaedlich, which featured 15 "Ball Dolls": Wall Dolls holding one billiard ball each.)
I don’t know much about billiards. I do know that the balls are smooth and heavy and the felt they glide over is soft, strong and fibrous. It pleases my sensuality to see the different ball colors, the painted shapes and numbers. It pleases me to envision the touching point between the ball and the felt. It pleases me to hear the clicking noises when cue, balls, and pool table meet during a game.
The player, when he or she enters the scene, infuses the inert physical elements with abstract energy. The player sets the elements in motion and changes the physical relations between them. It is the player’s will and focus, thought and goal that makes single balls momentarily important at different points in the game.
For some time now, the concept of “holding” has intrigued me. When you hold something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you own or possess it. Holding something can mean that you steward something; that you are responsible for something; that you care for something; that your sights are set on something. It definitely, however, means that you have actively entered a relationship with that item. Relationships between entities are forever complex and mysterious. What is Ball Doll 15’s relationship to the red striped 15 ball it is holding, for instance? What is your relationship to the number 15, the color red, or that whole ball? At a given moment in a given game, was the #15 the most important thing you aimed to “have”? Was it the only thing you could think about, the one thing you desired?
In the end, any of the balls held by the dolls represent anything you have really wanted to strike, catch, sink, move, hold or love at a particular time in your life.
Halona Hilbertz, July 2008.
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