Press release: As the title suggests, the very location of the exhibition is at the core of
its theme. ST AGNES both contains it and inspires it. A show in three parts
presents both impressions from and reactions to the architecture, the history,
and its current repurposing, as expressed through a changing group of works by
artists ranging from historical to contemporary and emerging. A single work
remains throughout the run of the three “chapters” over three months, Franz
Erhard Walther’s Drei Standstellen. Sechs Richtungen, 1977, serving as the
constant pulse of the exhibition as the space of the gallery is reconfigured
for each changing show.
Chapter II: door to the future, window to the past.
Aleksandar Duravcevic, Anselm Kiefer, Roman Ondak, Enoc Perez, Stephanie
Syjuco, Matthias Weischer
Time has a power to change our perspective on things, and the Brutalist
mentality was not immune to this. A movement that began in the 1950s with a
full embrace and execution of modernist ideals came pretty much to a halt by
the mid-1970s. The physical decay of the buildings in the decades that followed
was somewhat representative of the popular view of the buildings, a style of a
specific era equally maligned as it was admired. But as time has gone further
to the present, we are able to revisit the structures as more than a fashion of
a period but as a mentality that has as many valid applications today as they
did back then.
The works presented in this “chapter” utilize a similar anthropological
approach. Although dealing with questions and issues that are firmly rooted in
the present, these artists mine the past to gain deeper perspective and
understanding. The reference to history may be personal (i.e. Aleksandar
Duravcevic, Roman Ondak, Matthias Weischer), cultural (i.e. Enoc Perez,
Stephanie Syjuco) or philosophical and ideological (i.e. Anselm Kiefer), but
all bringing forth their investigations towards contemporary concerns.
This show was created in collaboration with r/e projects.