“ Tarek Lakhrissi presents newly produced glass sculptures. Two of these objects evoke door knockers of European mansions. Traditionally, a heavy metal ring is attached to these door knockers, which are often elaborately decorated with ornaments or animal heads. The person waiting in front of the building asks to be heard andto be let in by knocking. But what happens if the desired entrance is denied? Lakhrissi refers to such knockersto reflect on social exclusivity and the exclusion of marginalized groups. However, he not only laments the knocker as a symbol of the persistence of social barriers, but also creates new associations through changesin color and material: His door knockers are sensual and queer; the movement of light is reflected in them. According to a well-known quote by black queer Science- Ficiton author Samuel Delany, this play of light already announces the liberated togetherness of a future utopia.Literary and poetic references from a resistant community of cultural workers, poets and artists form the seedbed of Lakhrissi’s artistic practice. His tongue-like sculptures reference the lyrical work Bite Hard (1997) by Malaysian- American author Justin Chin (1969–2015). Here, the tongue appears in its full ambiguity. It is the carnal material of language that shapes our words. But the tongue can also deceive us if we follow its familiarity too openly. As an organ of lust, it can desire and intimately encounter other tongues.The longing for intimate community, the search for it, and the demand and denial of inclusion also pervades Come to Me (2023). The aluminum sculpture conceals a poem by the artist. As if kept behind bars or hiddenin an (almost) closed closet, it only partially yields to the gaze.” (Benedikt Seerieder)
