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If you're planning washroom remodeling, you may want not to choose hiring this German artist for the job.

Truly, Herfeldt is an expert with a silicone gun, creating compelling artworks out of an unusual art material. But the more observe the artworks, the clearer it becomes apparent that an element seems somewhat strange.

The thick lengths from the foam she crafts stretch over their supports on which they sit, hanging downwards towards the floor. The gnarled tubular forms swell till they rupture. Some creations break free from the display cases completely, turning into an attractor for grime and particles. One could imagine the feedback might not get favorable.

At times I get an impression that things are alive within a space,” says the German artist. This is why I came to use this substance as it offers a distinctly physical texture and feeling.”

Certainly there is an element almost visceral about the artist's creations, including the suggestive swelling which extends, like a medical condition, off its base at the exhibition's heart, and the winding tubes made of silicone that burst like medical emergencies. On one wall, Herfeldt has framed prints depicting the sculptures seen from various perspectives: they look like microscopic invaders observed under magnification, or growths in a lab setting.

What captivates me that there are things in our bodies happening that seem to hold their own life,” she says. Elements that are invisible or control.”

Talking of elements beyond her influence, the promotional image promoting the event displays a picture showing a dripping roof at her creative space in the German capital. The building had been built in the early 1970s and, she says, was instantly hated among the community because a lot of old buildings were torn down in order to make way for it. The place was in a state of disrepair as the artist – who was born in Munich yet raised near Hamburg then relocating to Berlin as a teenager – began using the space.

This decrepit property caused issues for her work – placing artworks was difficult the sculptures without fearing potential harm – yet it also proved compelling. Without any blueprints available, it was unclear the way to fix any of the issues that arose. After a part of the roof at the artist's area got thoroughly soaked it gave way completely, the only solution was to replace it with another – thus repeating the process.

At another site, she describes the leaking was so bad so multiple shower basins were installed in the suspended ceiling in order to redirect the water to a different sink.

It dawned on me that this place acted as a physical form, an entirely malfunctioning system,” she says.

These conditions reminded her of the sci-fi movie, the director's first cinematic piece about an AI-powered spacecraft that takes on a life of its own. And as you might notice from the show’s title – a trio of references – more movies have inspired shaping the artist's presentation. Those labels indicate main characters in the slasher film, another scary movie and Alien as listed. The artist references a 1987 essay by the American professor, that describes the last women standing an original movie concept – women left alone to triumph.

These figures are somewhat masculine, rather quiet and they endure because she’s quite clever,” says Herfeldt of the archetypal final girl. No drug use occurs or have sex. It is irrelevant the viewer’s gender, we can all identify with the survivor.”

The artist identifies a similarity linking these figures and her sculptures – things that are just about staying put under strain they face. Does this mean the art more about cultural decay rather than simply leaky ceilings? Because like so many institutions, such components that should seal and protect us from damage in fact are decaying around us.

“Oh, totally,” she confirms.

Before finding inspiration with sealant applicators, the artist worked with other unusual materials. Recent shows featured forms resembling tongues crafted from a synthetic material found in within outdoor gear or apparel lining. Once more, there's the feeling these peculiar objects might animate – some are concertinaed like caterpillars mid-crawl, pieces hang loosely off surfaces blocking passages gathering grime from contact (Herfeldt encourages people to handle and dirty her art). Like the silicone sculptures, those fabric pieces also occupy – and escaping from – inexpensive-seeming display enclosures. The pieces are deliberately unappealing, and really that’s the point.

“They have a particular style that somehow you feel very attracted to, and at the same time they’re very disgusting,” the artist comments grinning. “It attempts to seem not there, however, it is very present.”

The artist does not create work to make you feel relaxation or aesthetically soothed. Rather, she wants you to feel discomfort, strange, maybe even amused. However, should you notice water droplets overhead additionally, remember you haven’t been warned.