Anita Zimmermann
HEISSE HUNDE
November 11, 2017 – December 23, 2017
Monumental sculptures are never non-utilitarian. All this material, labour and money must also serve another purpose– it can’t be just for the arts. Whether it is the Colossus of Rhodes, the Statue of Liberty in New York of the Molecule Man in Berlin doesn’t make any big difference. ‘Big’ correlates almost always with ‘Power’. And somehow, even if it’s not meant that way, Great Dane Idda must have made a powerful impression on Anita Zimmermann.
In 1959, the temple of Ramses II in Abu Simbel was under the threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were about to result from the construction of the Aswan High Dam. A multinational team of specialists under the UNESCO banner was put together to save the temple. The entire site was carefully cut into large blocks, dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location. In more or less the same way preparations took place to transport ‘Idda’ from Trogen to Eschlikon. The complexity of the task and the importance for mankind may differ substantially, however, there is a resemblance in the symbolic power of both monuments. And as for ‘Idda’, this sculpture leaves nobody cold. Nor does the choice of material.
It was fundamental for Anita Zimmermann that the material for this sculpture complied with the requirements for a drawing. According to her, drawing has to be spontaneous, impulsive and intuitional. Stone was out of question: too heavy, too slow, too serious and too much for eternity. It had to be something light. Styrofoam seemed to break all common expectations towards monumental sculpture and complied with her concept of drawing.
They look so playful these tender Risograph prints. ‘Great Danes’, is their title but they are no dogs. Their sensual forms reminiscent of jelly fishes or even PET bottles. The confusion that Anita Zimmermann triggers gets even bigger when she calls the prints ‘Baben’. It just doesn’t make any more sense.
Anita Zimmermann lives and works in St. Gallen. She is one of the funding members of the project room Exex, the exhibition platform *5ünfstern and the platform Hiltibold. She received 1993 and 2015 the promotional awards of the City of St. Gallen, 2006 a work grant from the City of St. Gallen and 2017 one from the Canton of St. Gallen. In 2011 she was commissioned to develop a fountain for the newly build Federal Administrative Court in St. Gallen. As Leila Bock she founded in 2015 the project ‘Geiler Block’ which was eventually repeated in 2017.
In 1959, the temple of Ramses II in Abu Simbel was under the threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were about to result from the construction of the Aswan High Dam. A multinational team of specialists under the UNESCO banner was put together to save the temple. The entire site was carefully cut into large blocks, dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location. In more or less the same way preparations took place to transport ‘Idda’ from Trogen to Eschlikon. The complexity of the task and the importance for mankind may differ substantially, however, there is a resemblance in the symbolic power of both monuments. And as for ‘Idda’, this sculpture leaves nobody cold. Nor does the choice of material.
It was fundamental for Anita Zimmermann that the material for this sculpture complied with the requirements for a drawing. According to her, drawing has to be spontaneous, impulsive and intuitional. Stone was out of question: too heavy, too slow, too serious and too much for eternity. It had to be something light. Styrofoam seemed to break all common expectations towards monumental sculpture and complied with her concept of drawing.
They look so playful these tender Risograph prints. ‘Great Danes’, is their title but they are no dogs. Their sensual forms reminiscent of jelly fishes or even PET bottles. The confusion that Anita Zimmermann triggers gets even bigger when she calls the prints ‘Baben’. It just doesn’t make any more sense.
Anita Zimmermann lives and works in St. Gallen. She is one of the funding members of the project room Exex, the exhibition platform *5ünfstern and the platform Hiltibold. She received 1993 and 2015 the promotional awards of the City of St. Gallen, 2006 a work grant from the City of St. Gallen and 2017 one from the Canton of St. Gallen. In 2011 she was commissioned to develop a fountain for the newly build Federal Administrative Court in St. Gallen. As Leila Bock she founded in 2015 the project ‘Geiler Block’ which was eventually repeated in 2017.
Exhibition
November 11 – December 23, 2017
Opening reception:
Saturday, November 11, 2017, 3–8 pm
3 pm
Opening reception
4 pm
Welcome address and Hot Dogs
6 pm
Exhibition tour
Sunday, November 12, 2017, 11 am–4 pm
Long weekend:
Saturday, December 2, 2017, 11 am–9 pm
Sunday, December 3, 2017, 11 am–4 pm
Opening hours:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 2–6 pm
Saturday 11 am–4 pm
and by appointment
Opening reception:
Saturday, November 11, 2017, 3–8 pm
3 pm
Opening reception
4 pm
Welcome address and Hot Dogs
6 pm
Exhibition tour
Sunday, November 12, 2017, 11 am–4 pm
Long weekend:
Saturday, December 2, 2017, 11 am–9 pm
Sunday, December 3, 2017, 11 am–4 pm
Opening hours:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 2–6 pm
Saturday 11 am–4 pm
and by appointment
Special
Drawing dictation with Anita Zimmermann
Monday, November 27, 2017, 7 pm
Literaturraum, St. Gallen
Reservation required
mail@0010.ch
Monday, November 27, 2017, 7 pm
Literaturraum, St. Gallen
Reservation required
mail@0010.ch