Artists: Franz West, Hans Josephson, Urs Fischer, Heimo Zobernig, Pipilotti Rist
Exhibition title: Body Doubles
Curated by: Konrad Bitterli and Laura Bechter
Venue: Lokremise, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Gallen, Switzerland
Date: February 4 – June 25, 2017
Photography: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zurich, all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Lokremise, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Gallen, Switzerland. All works courtesy of Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland
In the movie industry, “body doubles” are actors who stand in for the lead actors in physically challenging situations such as nude scenes. But instead of stand-ins, the exhibition Body Doubles points to the body as a sculptural volume, as a physi-cal presence in space, or as a negative space that surrounds the body. The tension between the two is what the exhibition at the Lokremise makes visible.
It is centered around a first-rate group of works by Hans Josephsohn and Franz West from the significant collection of the St. Gallen collector Ursula Hauser. For the first time, these two artists will be juxtaposed in an exhibition.
Hans Josephsohn (1920–2012) is the most important sculptor of his generation in Switzerland. His work is distinguished by the original power and physical presence of the figure. Franz West (1947–2012), one of Austria’s most extraordinary sculp-tors, became known in the 1980s for his Passstücke (Adaptives), whose organic forms, attached to the body as prostheses, now manifest their potential as nega-tive forms. In his later work, he turned toward the monumental organic form, which he always interpreted in his own playful manner. Large-scale installations by Pipilotti Rist and Urs Fischer augment this unique dialogue of bodily sculpture.
