This essay is interlaced with the exhibition Alien Beauty by Fredrik Odénius, and is to be seen as a reflection of and upon the presented works and their becoming. By focusing on the role of interpretation in various stages of the creation process the essay tries to distinguish Odénius sculptural practice as a hermeneutical activity. 

By tracing one of the main strands of thought in hermeneutics, from exegesis, via Heidegger to Gadamer, interpretations treated as a means of existence, an ontological activity in its own right. 

One can understand art as an act of interpretation by the way of gestaltung, to interpret a thing through matter. Another way to define art is through its institutions and the concept of the artworld. By accessing art through both these definitions simultaneously, a new idea of how a work of art operates is revealed, both as an autonomic being and as a man-made artefact.

By giving primacy to the open-ended structure of creation, with curiosity and association as driving forces, it is argued for that the act of gestaltung draws a line between the inside and outside that allows a dialogue between material and creator. Through this process the material is given a possibility to make itself heard, and as the artist steps back, the bond between motif and work remains and establishes a continuity outside the human realm.