GÆG: Thomas Huber & Wolfgang Aichner
passage2011 / powerwalk
September 6–October 27, 2013
National Gallery of Iceland
Fríkirkjuvegur 7
101 Reykjavík
Iceland
www.listasafn.is
www.passage2011.org
www.powerwalk2013.org
The National Gallery of Iceland is pleased to announce the presentation of the Venice Biennale project passage2011 along with the kick-off of the new project powerwalk by the German artists Thomas Huber and Wolfgang Aichner.
passage2011: an actionistic transalpine drama
The award-winning undertaking passage2011 was driven by hope: Bare-handed, the artists dragged a self-made, seventeen-foot boat over the Alps. Neo-romantic aspirations and Sisyphean exertion characterized the mission, whose apparent aim was to launch the boat into the lagoon in time for the most distinguished art event in the world, the Venice Biennale in 2011—to eventually celebrate the victory of art over nature in a triumphal journey up the Canal Grande or to fail dramatically. Huber and Aichner conceived of this seemingly Sisyphean task, passage 2011, as a metaphor for human hubris and the pursuit of success. As neither expected to complete the pass, passage 2011 would also serve as a study of failure.
The boat—object and sculpture—stands in the center of the exhibition along with the 27-minute short film, which was premiered in Venice 2011.
passage2011 will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue (ed. by Christian Schoen, Kunsthalle Emden/National Gallery of Iceland, Hirmer-Verlag) in German and English.
powerwalk: going for a charge
Shortly after the opening the artists will set off for their new expedition. For powerwalk Huber and Aichner will walk in the course of a one-week expedition on Europe’s largest glacier, the Icelandic Vatnajökull as human power stations. During their arduous excursion they will carry mobile wind generators, producing permanently electricity. In this process generated wind energy will be accumulated in special batteries, which serves the artistic gain of the undertaking. The energy is transported back to Germany, where it is used to operate two washing machines, laundering the expedition clothes of the artists. As long as the accumulated electricity lasts, the washing process is filmed in real-time mode. The exploitation of energy and its consumption, staged in this project in two separate paces, evolves a strongly metaphorical quality.
In powerwalk the artists create an absurd image, which broaches the issue of the current race for resources and energies between the industrial countries and a society oriented towards efficiency, profit and entertainment. The performance will be documented cinematically and photographically and formatted installation-based for exhibitions. The project still can be supported on the crowdfunding platform startnext.
passage2011 and powerwalk are curated by Christian Schoen and organised by pilotraum01 e.V.
Contact:
National Gallery of Iceland Press office
T +354 515 9600 / svanfridur [at] listasafn.is
Bettina Pauly, Kultur PR
T +49 (0) 89 337346 / kulturpr [at] bettinapauly.de
The exhibition is generously supported by:
Esri Deutschland, Kulturreferat München, decontam, Mammut, Goethe-Institut, Icelandair
powerwalk is supported by:
Esri Deutschland GmbH, Landeshauptstadt München – Kulturreferat, 66° North, Energie System Technik GmbH, Cube Engineering GmbH, decontam GmbH, Deutscher Wetterdienst, Lauche&Maas, Friedrich Hilterhaus, Rahmenstruktur UG, perix.media, Busch+Müller, Icelandair and Powerbar
