|
Andreas Slominski
February 20 - May 09, 1999
From February 20 through May 9, 1999, Deutsche Guggenheim will present Andreas Slominski, an exhibition of new work commissioned specially for its art gallery on Unter den Linden. Born in Meppen in 1959, Andreas Slominski is one of the most respected artists of his generation. His multi-component, sculptural installation embodies various themes in his practice and provides a condensed overview of his oeuvre to date.
The concept of "trapping" has preoccupied Slominski for more than fifteen years. He has created a veritable arsenal of traps ranging from snares to decoys that allude metaphorically to the deceptive and seductive nature of art itself. Bird Trapping Station, 1998-99, an enormous, fully functioning bird trap, fills the main gallery of the Deutsche Guggenheim. Though presented as a sculpture, the trap is baited and set, ready to spring shut at any time. What appears at first to be a static artwork, quickly becomes a causal agent. As part of the commission, Slominski has also produced a scientifically-tested mechanism capable of transporting a spoonful of cough syrup without spilling a drop of the liquid. The installation is rounded off by a "purloined" bicycle pump, a relic of a performative action documented on video. While preparing for the exhibition, the artist also created an amusing intervention onto Berlin's cityscape, by "planting" the stump of a dead linden tree in the middle of Unter den Linden's grand promenade. Located in front of the Deutsche Guggenheim, this little tree stump extends the exhibition outside the museum and functions as a small visual disturbance.
With his traps, manipulated bicycles, and odd interventions into the urban fabric and museum environment, Slominski offers an approach to the world that is quixotic, yet critical of cultural conventions. In his work, he imbues the incidental and the commonplace with deeper shades of meaning.
|
A sense of the absurd infuses Slominski's work. The sensibility of his various undertakings can be described as slapstick; one is reminded of the antics of Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin. But Slominski's efforts are performed with a clinical coolness that underscores the hilarity of his gestures. Mundane tasks are carried out with such a concentrated process and attention to detail that they approach the fanatical. The charming senselessness of his projects recalls the German Schildbürger fairytales.
Andreas Slominski is organized by Nancy Spector, Curator of Contemporary Art, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. It continues the ongoing series of site-specific commissions by prominent artists for the Deutsche Guggenheim. The first commission in 1998 was the monumental, three-painting suite The Swimmer in the Econo-mist by James Rosenquist.
An accompanying catalogue (DM 39,--) documents all the commissioned works in detail. It also includes an essay by Collier Schorr and an interview with Hans-Ulrich Obrist by Nancy Spector. It will be available in a German and in an English edition.
As Edition No. 6 of the Deutsche Guggenheim, Andreas Slominski has created Bucket of Water, which is on view in the MuseumShop. The edition consists of the bucket and the remnants from the elaborate plumbing system built (and later dismantled) to fill it. The process itself is documented in an accompanying videotape. Produced in an edition of 100, each Bucket of Water is priced at DM 250.
Press Conference: Friday, February 19, 1999, 11 a.m.
Images of the exhibition
are available online at www.photo-files.de/guggenheim in a 300 dpi quality.
Further information at
Manager: Svenja Gräfin von Reichenbach
Press: Sara Bernshausen
Phone: +49-30-202093-14
Fax: +49-30-202093-20
email: berlin.guggenheim@db.com
Internet: www.deutsche-guggenheim.de
|
