Mara Kirchberg "My Weight Hangs in Your Arms"

Mara Kirchberg’s installations and performances at the exhibition My Weight Hangs in Your Arms at the Draakon Gallery, 15 May–14 June 2026.

Mara Kirchberg’s solo exhibition examines the technologisation of care. At the heart of the exhibition is the metaphor of the body as a machine. The automotive industry has shaped not only the technical equipment of care work, but also its organisation, treating humans as mechanical systems. The conceptual framework of Kirchberg’s exhibition is petromodernity, which characterises the current material world, overwhelmingly fueled by crude oil. While the oil economy has prolonged human life expectancy, the imminent end of Earth’s fossil fuel supply creates fear and imperialist wars. However, fears are also known to provoke fetishised desires.

The central installation Lubricating a Hardening Muscle incorporates materials from garages and medical settings, such as artificial membranes, lubricants and drainage tanks. To remain functional, the installation requires regular maintenance. During Service Hours performances, Kirchberg activates the pulley system while wearing a PVC Sweat Suit 1, which is both a protective gear and a fetish object. Petrosexuality eroticises oil-based products, which are not only toxic to the living organisms but also emblematic of extractive and destructive systems. Through the use of eroticity, the artist calls for reflection and resistance to today’s toxic desires.

Mara Kirchberg (b. 1994 in Germany) creates expansive scenes through sculpture, installations and site-specific or performative interventions, exploring such concepts as efficiency and exhaustion, as well as their impact on bodily systems. She studied Contemporary Art at the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn, and Choreography and Performance at the Institut für Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft in Gießen, Germany. Her work has been exhibited across Europe and has received numerous accolades, including the Grand Prix of the Nordic & Baltic Young Artist Award (2024), the Young Sculptor Award of the Estonian Academy of Arts (2023), and the Eduard Wiiralt Scholarship from the Estonian Ministry of Culture. In addition to installations, Kirchberg has created stage designs for several of Sveta Grigorjeva’s productions, including Dances to Dream, Res(is)t and Sleep to (2023) and Gargantua (2025).

Rebeka Põldsam (b. 1989 in Tallinn, Estonia) is a freelance curator and a research fellow in ethnology at the University of Tartu. Her academic research is focused on the queer past, present and future, and on feminist art history. Previously she curated We Don’t Do This. Intimacy, Norms and Fantasies in Baltic Art (2024, MO museum,Vilnius), From ‘Such People’ to LBGT-activism. Stories of sexual and gender minorities in 20th century Estonia (2023, Vabamu), and Anu Põder. Be Fragile! Be Brave! (2017, Kumu Art Museum, 2019, Pori Art Museum). She is a long-time contributor to Feministeerium.ee and Sirp, among other culture publications.

Performances: 30 May and 13 June at 5 PM
Performed by Mara Kirchberg

Curator: Rebeka Põldsam
Graphic design: Kert Viiart–Õllek
Technical support: Gisèle Gonon, Marko Odar
Outside Eye: Gisèle Gonon

Supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Goethe-Institut Estland

Contact: Rebeka Põldsam, rebekap@gmail.com
Artist website: https://marakirchberg.com