Galv Fountain is Stephen's first solo show in Germany and was held at The Gimp in Berlin in September 2024.
The exhibition documents the ongoing competition for public space in urban areas. What was once conceived as a democratic space now more closely resembles a battlefield, with constant negotiations between citizens who want to leave their mark and authorities who seek to regulate and clean it up. At the heart of Burke's exploration is the growing obsession of state institutions with security and control (a concept Michel Foucault famously termed the "disciplinary society"). A pervasive testament to this is the rise of so-called defensive architecture, which is primarily aimed at restricting the free movement of a city's inhabitants.
Burke often reclaims materials directly from the street—such as fences, walls, and tiles— objects with a strong tactility, opening up new pathways in their absence. He later reconfigures these materials into new objects that reference, subvert, and question the values by which we design our society. His work reflects on how public space is shaped by competing interests, while subtly evoking ideas of freedom. - Clemens Espenlaub