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Sören Ernst
Faith in the Global Family
More than a quarter of a century ago, when he was a sculptor’s apprentice, Sören Ernst used to be regularly sent to a basement at the end of a long day chipping away at stone, to take plaster casts of clay models in preparation for their casting in bronze. It was a job he loathed, but in retrospect he’s very glad for the skill that was forced upon him. For after years where he has “literally shifted tons of stone” - producing sculptures that are in private collections and on public display throughout the world - he’s begun exploring new materials, with the objective, as always, of making a point. Today’s crisis and the need for all of us to pull together is behind a project that he’s working on this winter. It’s one in which people in the Algarve are invited to take part (if they dare!). And it’s also an exercise in which the expression “getting plastered” takes on a whole new meaning…
Natasha Donn, Edition 714 ( 2 Feb 2012), 
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Tell us what this is all about?
Sören Ernst: It all began about 10 years ago. Essentially it’s about togetherness. How we are all very much part of a global family.
You see, despite having great faith in human beings, I can’t see things getting any better any time soon. But we’re not dinosaurs. We have to come out of this together. No one country is going to emerge from this crisis with its head held high – it has to be all of us, as one.
My original plan was to create a globe with the faces of friends and family, but I need around 100 faces to make the cubic metre-size piece I am thinking of - and to fit the theme they really need to be from a lot of different ethnic backgrounds. The Algarve is home to many different cultures, so I am hoping to find some good faces while I am here. African and Asian, particularly.
Though you’re not expecting people to queue up?
Not at all! As you’ve discovered, it’s not a very comfortable process: having your face literally plastered so that you can’t move, open your eyes, talk, or anything else for at least 20 minutes. I’d like to think people approach it as a kind of meditation – but I know it’s not something most people would want to do. I think, in the end, the only people who will be interested in taking part are those that would like to be associated with the project in some way - through funding, or support of some kind.
All the faces, by dint of the exercise, have their eyes closed?
Yes, and in a way, that adds to the message. It looks like the people are asleep – and, if you think about it, we have all been asleep. We need to wake up and face reality, before it’s too late! We need to change the way we live; our attitudes. We have to take stock of priorities and make sure we’ve got them right.
So, once you have all your faces, what next?
The idea is to fit them all together, initially working with plaster casts of the plaster moulds. The whole process of fitting them together will be incredibly complex because every face is so different. Features, sizes, it’s incredible when you take moulds of people’s faces to see how much they all differ in structure. Once it’s constructed in plaster, it will then have to be cast in bronze. This will be very expensive, and I am not even worrying about how to organise funding yet. The first step is to get all the faces…
Are you working on anything else right now?
A lot has been happening for me and my partner, Steff Bauer” (also an established sculptor) “over the last three years. We’ve been incredibly lucky with work. I have a project ongoing at a German zoo - and I have started working with tile artist Brigitte Baumann here in the Algarve to produce three-dimensional works of art, using various techniques (plaster included). We’re hoping to develop a number of projects together.
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