Sculpture Trail

To mark the beginning of summer, Grieder Contemporary has pulled together a selection of sculptures revealing a spectrum of attitudes towards the present. The exhibition features artists of various nationalities who leverage a range of strategies both to connect with and challenge the modernist origins of sculpture. All oscillate between the twin poles of static fixedness and dynamic movement.

Drawing attention to the collection with its bright neon lighting outside the building is the installation by the young Swiss, Kerim Seiler. His Pneuma Somnambul (2007) threatens to disrupt the placid neighbourhood, its graphic, signal-like fragments reminiscent of unquiet cityscapes that allow no one any peace. For her part, Sylvie Fleury takes a page out of nature’s book, the materiality of her colossal metallic Mushrooms (2008) on the lawn forging a link with Minimalism. The gleaming surface is tempting to the touch – it wills the visitor to experience this artificial sculpture in nature in all its tactile dimensions.

Inside the gallery, the American John Miller – who now resides in Berlin – pursues the notion of sculpture as a relic in its classic role. Verliebt in Berlin (2007) is a gilded assemblage of sword, helmet and other items presented on an old wooden table. The work calls to mind an alluring battlefield caught unawares by a volcanic eruption. With this rigid composition, Miller is creating a perplexing distance and inviting the visitor to play the archaeologist and investigate the finds. British artist Daniel Silver is also attempting to stop the linear passage of time. He has placed five marble and soapstone heads in the room in an allusion to the traditional sculptures of antiquity. The unknown and misshapen faces only distantly resemble human physiognomies. They sit heavily in the space as if witnesses to tragic events, the nature of which even the artist will not reveal. Silver travelled to Zimbabwe to conduct research into the origins of modernist sculpture.

Melli Ink’s Apocalyptic Riders 1-4 (death) (2007) are witnesses as well. The vitreous skeletons speak of the fragility of human life. Ink trained as a stage designer, and here she has created a devotional scene that throws the notion of Memento Mori into a different light, giving it a contemporary interpretation.
Lutz/Guggisberg, for their part, use terrariums to cast a sideways glance at the world. They have turned their sculpture into a miniature stage, their Urpott (2006) consisting of tiny worlds in the form of delicate, filigree drawings behind glass walls. The effect is not unlike cave paintings taken a stage further, in that the artist duo have created here a multilayered milieu.
Krysten Cunningham is toying with space in similar fashion. The work of this young Los Angeles-based artist places filigree on stilts. Here, she has managed to get her works to hover and float using elaborate textile elements. Erwin Wurm’s Mies van der Rohe Melting (2005) is clearer in its narration: look away a moment too long and the building might keel over. Here, the skilled sculptor is deliberately undermining the requirements for sculptural statics and classicism. Thomas Kiesewetter’s Ohne Titel (2005) is also oscillating in that transitive space between stillness and movement. The structure of white lacquered metal elements forges a link with modernist forms in terms of its vocabulary and appears to be trying to capture the moment of perfect equilibrium.

The exhibition features works by Krysten Cunningham (*1973), Sylvie Fleury (*1961), Melli Ink (*1972), Thomas Kiesewetter (*1962), Lutz/Guggisberg (*1968/66), John Miller (*1954), Kerim Seiler (*1974), Daniel Silver (*1972), Erwin Wurm (*1954), Peter Rogiers (*1967).