Sarah Westphal is mesmerised by any space that is full of life, by ‘living’ spaces. In her multidisciplinary work, she explores the relationship between people, objects and their surroundings. A key part of this investigation focuses on how qualities of place and architecture contribute to our human experience, answering such questions as how does a location influence us physically and psychologically? How do we perceive the world around us? How does a space refer to its former inhabitants? What does an object tell us about its users? What impressions are left and what stories can be read from the layered history of surfaces and imprints or the corporeality of space?

In a kind of archaeological research, Westphal reveals, camouflages and reconstructs missing links. Through these minimal and meticulous actions, she manipulates the essence of the found situation and constructs sober but complex site-specific installations that can be physically experienced by the viewer. Photographs, films, projections and sculptures shift between two- and three-dimensionality, between reality and fiction. Sometimes, the available material gets reworked; new tracks are left behind and Sarah Westphal creates a labyrinth for several layers to crisscross.

In the past, Sarah Westphal has created a strong dialogue between her work and exhibition spaces, each of which has its own history, such as ‘Zwei Räume für sich allein’(2016) in Schloss Molsdorf - Kunsthalle Erfurt (DE); ‘Hintersteg’ (2014) in Be-Part, Platform for Contemporary Art, Waregem (BE); ‘Timpano’ (2013) in Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne (DE); ‘Allure Craquelure’(2013) in Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp (BE); ‘Palimpsest’ (2011) in the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK), Ghent (BE).