Kopf verdreht, 2026
Installation, 29 porcelain dogs, print on Tyvek, 240 x 146 x 35 cm

Hund I, II, III, IV, V, 2026
C-print, hot-dip galvanized steel frame, 35 x 26 cm

Exhibition views: Kunstbrücke am Wildenbruch, Berlin, 2026

»Staffordshire Dogs« are traditional porcelain figurines that were often produced in pairs and were popular in Britain during the 19th century. A number of folkloric legends surround the dog figurines. In the milieu of port cities, the dogs were also known as ‘brothel dogs’. They were displayed in the windows of sex workers in the port to indicate whether they were occupied or available. Bahlsen’s installation takes up this narrative. The porcelain dogs from the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and England peer through openings in the ‘water’ – a representation of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, on whose coasts these mantelpiece dogs were frequently found. The dogs transform the windows into the setting for a regime of gaze: where it becomes clear who determines what may be seen. The rotation of the porcelain dogs is a coded message: a minimal movement determines access or exclusion, desire or denial, intimacy or public exposure.