Concept

Anton Edelshtein’s practice is grounded in a rhizomatic methodology (Deleuze and Guattari), where the object is conceived not as a finished form but as an open system emerging through the interplay of body, material, and context. This methodology rejects linear design models in favour of non‑hierarchical, networked processes, in which meaning is not fixed but constantly shifting and unfolding. The Extainer series embodies this approach. Unlike the container, which preserves and conceals, the extainer discloses — transforming the object into an open structure of potentials. Here function recedes to the periphery, while corporeal, intuitive, and cultural meanings take precedence. Each extainer arises from the deconstruction of a familiar form and the inhabitation of its negative spaces. From latent traces and internal tensions a new topology emerges, where the everyday artefact (stool, hanger, candlestick) ceases to be an instrument and becomes a medium of experience, gesture, and memory. These objects resist passive consumption. They operate as agents that generate situations of doubt, tension, and re‑interpretation. The extainer does not explain or serve, but opens a field where difference and ambiguity become the source of immersive experience. The work is structured through “weak connections” — material, cultural, and perceptual — that activate new configurations of meaning.