The Stubborn Life of Things

BETTINA BUCK, HANS-PETER FELDMANN, ROMUALD HAZOUMÈ, SOFIA HULTÉN, MONIKA STRICKER, HAEGUE YANG

Duration: April 13 to July 27, 2013

Curator: Julia Höner

Wherever we come across human beings, we find them surrounded by things. Sometimes these fulfill functions necessary for survival, while at other times they are tools or toys, weapons or decorations, purchases or gifts. Many things in our environment, however, elude human absorption. In these cases, we are not in control of these things; instead, they take us under their wing. Objects in everyday use also occasionally have an uncontrollable secret life and formative energy of their own, which the exhibition at KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION seeks to comprehend. Six international artists advance an understanding of things that goes beyond their function as human prostheses, as an archive of cultural practices, or as the simple materialization of higher (artistic) ideas. In videos, installations, sculptures, and photographs, the artists allow us to dive into the world of things, whose sensual guise can either seduce or provoke us, making them tangible, yet untranslatable at the same time. The works of art in this show encourage us to re-think the roles of clothes racks, automobiles, wall tiles, etc. as accomplices in human acts of all kinds.

A catalogue will be published by Kerber and released at the opening with a foreword by Monika Schnektkamp, texts by Julia Höner, Kerstin Schankweiler and Stefanie Stallschuss as well as a contribution by artist Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez.
88 pages, hard cover, German /English, numerous colour plates