CKÖ

CKÖ’s work titles are becoming a kind of tradition. On the one hand they bear witness to the group’s ironic joy and on the other hand they can be viewed separately from the works. They actually could be pieces of art themselves: ‘Mango di Verni’, ‘Blou pa dins’, ‘Los mal: Tschänggli and the Hottubs! Säg mal: Gratulation!’ oder ‘iiklaemts’. CKÖ must have a lot of fun at work. The explanation of the title YUMIMEI lies in a dyslexic misspeak of one of the artists. Because Yumimei does really exist, and she is starring in the eponymous photo series that is part of the show.

Using various raw materials that are also used in architecture and construction is so to speak an occupational weakness of CKÖ: two-by-fours, wood panels, screws, nails and on and off a machine. For YUMIMEI they stayed true to themselves and decided to use two construction machines.

‘Mango di Verni’ or ‘The White Cube’ are walk-in installations that need to be experienced in a performativ way, which means they need an activated audience. YUMIMEI on the other hand refers to the classical concept of sculpture. Its impressive concreteness confers the representative function of sculptural objects. At the same time a reference to Duchamp’s ready-made concept is unavoidable: not rotated but doubled and then casually set upright. The welded shovels formally recall Orozco’s narrowed La DS but go even further. Contrary to the DS that was a true queen of car design, a dumper has no aesthetic aspiration. The artistic intervention to transform a pure functional machine into a formally and sensually harmonic piece of art needs to be classified on a higher level. YUMIMEI! And an ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan.

CKÖ are Sara Widmer, Daniel Lütolf and Georg Krummenacher. Sara Widmer graduated from KISD Cologne and TAIK Helsinki with a Master of European Design. Daniel Lütolf studied architecture at the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. Georg Krummenacher also graduated as an architect from the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. He also received a Master degree in Fine Arts from the ZHdK Zurich. CKÖ had numerous exhibitions in Switzerland, such as Kunsthalle Arbon, Ausstellungsraum Klingental Basel and Jungkunst 2013 and 2015 Winterthur. They have received wide recognition for their work inter alia by means of the Studio Stipend Berlin 2016 (Kanton Zürich), Studio Stipend Tapiola 2015 (Finnish Artist’ Studio Foundation FASF) and the Swiss Art Award 2014 (Bundesamt für Kultur).