Ruth Anderwald+
Leonhard Grond
L'HORIZON BRISÉ
March 20, 2010 – May 8, 2010
WIDMER+THEODORIDIS contemporary is pleased to present the Austrian artists Ruth Anderwald und Leonhard Grond. In their first solo show in Switzerland they will display photographies of the series ‘Atlas’. Anderwald + Grond have invited various people to slip into the role of Atlas and hence to take over for a moment the load of the globe.
In Greek mythology Atlas was sentenced to push Ouranos (heaven) away from Gaia (earth) in order to prevent him from constantly raping her. In visual arts however Ouranos is usually wrongfully illustrated as porter of the globe.
Anderwald + Grond present in their series how this task of carrying the globe was carried out. Some of the people do it with lightness, others push up the earth in a big effort, some are lying on the floor, and others execute it on their knees. Their poses differ depending on opinion and view of the world.
While looking at the Atlases the theorist Gu Zheng related to the Chinese idiom ‘Lifting Something Heavy Is Just Like Lifting Something Light'. In his text to the catalogue of the series he writes: ‘Furthermore, in this photographic work, the mythological figure of Atlas emerges from ordinary people in real life. Through the photos of Anderwald + Grond, we find that everyone on this earth is Atlas, everyone hopelessly struggles for something, and everyone’s existence on the terrestrial sphere and in the real world is a complex relation which cannot be easily explained.’
For the artists direct contact with the world precedes objectifying thinking. Vision cannot be explored solely and conclusively apart from the body. Only the physical experience creates a real and individual relation with the world surrounding us. In ‘L'horizon brisé’ the players broke and turned the horizon just as it pleased and suited them.
The show presented in Zurich will afterwards travel to the Himalayas Art Museum. A publication accompanies the exhibition.
Ruth Anderwald and Leonhard Grond were born 1976/1977 in Graz, Austria, they work together since 1999 and live in Vienna. In July till December 2008 they were invited Artists-in-Residence at the Villa Sträuli, Winterthur, Switzerland. Their 'Notes on a Coast' were much noticed both as a photographic series as well as a book. The Jewish Museum, Vienna, Austria and the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel presented them. In 2009 their video work ‘This Kind of Things - He and Us (Bruce Baillie)’ was shown at the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Anderwald + Grond present in their series how this task of carrying the globe was carried out. Some of the people do it with lightness, others push up the earth in a big effort, some are lying on the floor, and others execute it on their knees. Their poses differ depending on opinion and view of the world.
While looking at the Atlases the theorist Gu Zheng related to the Chinese idiom ‘Lifting Something Heavy Is Just Like Lifting Something Light'. In his text to the catalogue of the series he writes: ‘Furthermore, in this photographic work, the mythological figure of Atlas emerges from ordinary people in real life. Through the photos of Anderwald + Grond, we find that everyone on this earth is Atlas, everyone hopelessly struggles for something, and everyone’s existence on the terrestrial sphere and in the real world is a complex relation which cannot be easily explained.’
For the artists direct contact with the world precedes objectifying thinking. Vision cannot be explored solely and conclusively apart from the body. Only the physical experience creates a real and individual relation with the world surrounding us. In ‘L'horizon brisé’ the players broke and turned the horizon just as it pleased and suited them.
The show presented in Zurich will afterwards travel to the Himalayas Art Museum. A publication accompanies the exhibition.
Ruth Anderwald and Leonhard Grond were born 1976/1977 in Graz, Austria, they work together since 1999 and live in Vienna. In July till December 2008 they were invited Artists-in-Residence at the Villa Sträuli, Winterthur, Switzerland. Their 'Notes on a Coast' were much noticed both as a photographic series as well as a book. The Jewish Museum, Vienna, Austria and the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel presented them. In 2009 their video work ‘This Kind of Things - He and Us (Bruce Baillie)’ was shown at the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
