Valerija IntiharBack to the salt mines A thick layer underfoot—coarse, industrial, used to blunt the freeze. Ground zero is laid in salt, the purpose not being purity or preservation, but something closer to abrasion. Surface crunches while moving through space, preserving not safety, but rather a surface memory.  Scattered fragments emerge in the crystalline: cores and spines of asphalt samples, cast-off, retrieved from the shallow guts of roads and under-bridges. A number of knee pads rest among them—originally produced in foam, now cast in solid aluminium, burnished by sand, not wear; with cold and weighty structures. No body fills them, yet the pressure is implied—they hold a posture that remains bent and still: to kneel here is to endure. The artist makes a shift—material found scattered is carefully picked, stored,…