Artist: Grace Schwindt
Exhibition title: Defiant Bodies
Curated by: Nadia Veronese
Venue: Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Date: September 17, 2022 – February 5, 2023
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Kunstmuseum St. Gallen
The sculptor and performance artist Grace Schwindt (*1979, Offenbach) uses large-scale stage sets with theatrical elements, sculptural costumes, and props that relate to a specific location or scene for her installations. She places sculptural bodies and arrangements throughout the exhibition, using a concise choreography based on themes such as exclusion, destruction, violence, and change, as well as care and attention. The balance between fragility and strength is always delicate.
The artist examines how historical events shape and influence social relationships and how historiography and memory are constructed. Conversations she has with different people, including artists, activists, and family members, often serve as a starting point for fictional dialogues that are interpreted and presented in interdisciplinary performances. Objects and drawings expand the stage-like and performative setting that Schwindt extends into the park outside the museum with an outdoor sculpture for her presentation at the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, her first in a Swiss museum.
Grace Schwindt, Arched Figure, 2022, Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, Loan from the artist, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Becoming a Fossil, 2021, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Gravity, 2019, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Gravity, 2019, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Installation view Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Arch, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, In Two Parts, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Installation view Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Installation view Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Installation view Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Resting Point, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Installation view Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Installation view Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Installation view Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Bloom, 2021, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Resting, 2018, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Remembered Position, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Remembered Position, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Grace Schwindt, Inside Out, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Sebastian Stadler