The use of collage, montage, assemblage and free association is for the belgian sculptor Caroline Coolen (°1975, Bree, Belgium), a way to get a grip on reality. She encapsulates a multiplicity of everyday impressions in her sculptures: typical is her relationship with nature, landscape and animals. She strives to compress an overall impression of the outside world – or Umwelt as Coolen calls it – into her art. Always beginning with modelling, she creates a conglomerate from very diverse materials. This profound integration connects space and time, the sphere within which humans, animals or plants are placed. Caroline Coolen’s work simulates a broad spectrum of our senses, with varied textures and different materials she binds the visual to the tactile. The results are sculptures, large scale drawings, often presented as an installation.