The Space Between Classrooms / Angharad Williams & Mathis Gasser: Hergest: Trem

The Space Between Classrooms
Architecture and Design Series: 5th Edition
Curated by Alia Farid

Including works by Atelier Aziz Alqatami, Mohamed Bourouissa, Olga Casellas and Marco Abarca, Khalid al Gharaballi, Jumana Manna and Haig Aivazian, Nuria Montiel, Abdullah Al-Mutairi, Oscar Murillo, Gala Porras-Kim, Alfred Roth, Cecilia Vicuña

Swiss Institute is proud to present the 5th edition of its Annual Architecture and Design Series, curated by artist Alia Farid (b. 1985; lives/works in Kuwait and Puerto Rico). The works in this exhibition, entitled The Space Between Classrooms, respond to the limitations of learning within the prescribed architectural and structural parameters of an archetypal school setting. Farid takes as a starting point the prototype for schools that Alfred Roth designed for Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works during the late 1960s, a period of rapid modernization for the newly flourishing oil state. Roth, a celebrated Swiss modernist architect, developed prefabricated schools that were to be replicated in each district across the country. From his initial report on the existing provision of schools, which opens the exhibition, The Space Between Classrooms compares the uniformity of Roth’s architecture and the introduction of a modern education system in Kuwait with expanded art practices from Latin America, Southwest Asia and North Africa. These works draw on radical forms of pedagogy and communication as tools for unlearning, exploring how institutionally engineered values might govern imagination.

Alia Farid (b. 1985) lives and works in Kuwait and Puerto Rico. She had recent solo exhibitions at Portikus, Frankfurt and Kunstinstituut Melly (formerly known as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art), Rotterdam. Recent and upcoming group shows include participation in the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo, the 12th Gwangju Biennale, Sharjah Biennial 14, the 2nd Lahore Biennale, Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991-2001 at MoMA PS1, and Yokohama Triennale 2020. She has forthcoming solo exhibitions at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAMSTL), St. Louis in 2022 and The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto in 2023.   

This exhibition is organized by Alison Coplan, Curator.

Angharad Williams & Mathis Gasser
Hergest: Trem

Swiss Institute is pleased to present Hergest: Trem, the first collaborative exhibition by Angharad Williams and Mathis Gasser in the United States. Trem, Welsh for “view” and “sight,” marks the sixth cycle of the artists’ ongoing Hergest project.

Since 2016, Williams and Gasser have staged a series of episodic installations across the United Kingdom and Switzerland under the title Hergest that draw upon their shared interests in folklore, mythology, science fiction and cinematic depictions of the near future. Both artists work jointly on all facets of their exhibitions, which feature original artworks, performances and found objects arranged as disquieting mises-en-scène. An ambiguous absence and preternatural forms distinguish Hergest: Trem, where visitors encounter a deteriorating ad hoc bar and recreation space occupied by an uncommon set of guests.

Angharad Williams is an artist and writer who lives in Wales and Berlin. Recent solo projects, performances, and group exhibitions have taken place at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Stadtgalerie Bern, Bern; Kunstverein Munich, Munich (all 2020); Haus zur Liebe, Schaffhausen; ICA, London; No Bounds Festival, Sheffield; Peak, London (all 2019); Radiophrenia, Glasgow; and Liszt, Berlin (both 2018). Forthcoming solo exhibitions will take place at Kevin Space, Vienna and MOSTYN, Llandudno. 

Mathis Gasser is an artist who lives in London. Recent solo projects and group exhibitions have taken place at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; La Rada, Locarno (both 2020); Lady Helen, London; Haus zur Liebe, Schaffhausen (both 2019); Château d’Orion, Orion; Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal; Fig., Tokyo (all 2018); Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris; Cordova, Barcelona; Chewday’s, London; Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus (all 2017); Piper Keys, London; Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva (both 2016). Forthcoming group exhibitions will take place at the Musée cantonal des beaux-arts Lausanne and Live in Your Head, Geneva.

Hergest first took place at Glasgow International within the group exhibition Rough House, curated by the Woodmill, in 2016. Subsequent presentations took place at Wallriss, Fribourg (2016); Cell Project Space, London; Live In Your Head, Geneva (both 2018); and Josey, Norwich (2020). 

This exhibition is organized by Daniel Merritt, Associate Curator.

SI gratefully acknowledges support of The Space Between Classrooms from the VIA Art Foundation, the Barjeel Art Foundation, David Zwirner, the SI Architecture & Design Council, and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Production support for The Space Between Classrooms is kindly provided in part by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture. Special thanks to Media Partner PIN–UP. SI wishes to thank the lenders to the exhibition: the Archive of the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) at ETH Zürich; Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center, National Museum of Women in the Arts; Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles; Frequencies Project Foundation; kamel mennour, Paris/London; and the artists. SI gratefully acknowledges Designtex for in-kind support for Hergest: Trem. 

SI Programming is made possible in part with public funds from Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council; the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Main sponsors include LUMA Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Friends of SI. The Space Between Classrooms and Hergest: Trem are made possible in part by the Swiss Institute Annual Exhibition Fund with leadership support provided by the LUMA Foundation, Max and Monique Burger, the Garcia Family Foundation, the Kevin Wendle Foundation, and the Freedman Family Foundation. SI gratefully acknowledges Swiss Re as SI ONSITE Partner, Vitra as Design Partner, Crozier Fine Arts as Preferred Shipping Art Logistics Partner, and SWISS as Travel Partner.