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Esther Donatz Gallery is pleased to celebrate its newly opened space with an exhibition by Clea Stracke & Verena Seibt inspired by Franz Schubert’s tribute to art.
To simply interpret this song from the romantic era as a contemporary manifesto for the art would indeed be naïve. Art as a “better world”, as a conceptual counterpart to the banality of everyday's life seems to be too much of an innocent idyll not to be questioned by the artists. Therefore, they put dividing walls between the ideal and reality – barriers that keep the utopian promise of art at a distance and reflect it in its uncertainty.
White linen becomes a filter of one’s perception. By covering what is otherwise visible, it leads us into new ways of seeing. Physically present but hidden under the sheet, a vocalist transforms into a relic of an era that is long gone. Like an outdated, sleeping piece of furniture his song becomes the questionable expression of an aesthetic notion that has collected quite some dust over time. This is both funny and sad at the same time. Funny – because this “singing sculpture” comes across as a hopelessly outmoded ghost nobody is scared of any more. Sad – because the linen could also be the sheet to die on, the burial gown covering up our abandoned hopes and dreams.
Yet dismantling this romantic idea of art still bears some humorous optimism: It promotes a strong faith in a self-reflecting art and can be understood as a statement against its instrumentalization. By protecting the “gracious Art” with a cover, Clea Stracke & Verena Seibt also prevent it from disappearing. The temporarily removed objects have not been eliminated; they only hold their breath and wait.
The exhibition opens on Thursday, March 29, 2012, at 7 pm, with a performance (actor: Eric Fergusson). Produced in cooperation with Billa Reitzner, a Munich porcelain manufacturer, a series of unique “singing sculptures” will be on display at the gallery.
Clea Stracke (born 1982 in Berlin) & Verena Seibt (born 1980 in Dachau) studied in Nobert Prangenberg's and Stephan Huber's class respectively and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Munich in 2009. Collaborating since 2006, they have received numerous prizes. Apart from exhibitions at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Frankfurter Kunstverein or the Center for Contemporary Art, Plovdiv/Bulgaria, the artists have shown their work in Munich several times. For instance, they recently presented their video “Underworld” in a group exhibition of the same title at MaximiliansForum curated by them. Currently, Clea Stracke & Verena Seibt are participating in the exhibitions “six minus” at Bundeskunsthalle Bonn and “Death – Twenty-two Works of Art” at Deutsche Gesellschaft für christliche Kunst, Munich. artgrant has invited them to a residency program in Malèves, Belgium, for autumn 2012.
Clea Stracke & Verena Seibt have been awarded the Bayerische Kunstförderpreis 2012.
Text: Dr. Christian Hartard
Contact
Esther Donatz
esther(at)galeriedonatz.de
Nadine Seligmann
nadine(at)galeriedonatz.de
Phone: +49 89 70 07 62 00
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