They Printed It!
Building Moden Bodies. The Art of Bodybuilding
November 21, 2015–February 7, 2016
Kunsthalle Zürich is proud to show three singular exhibitions starting November 21, 2015. They Printed It! is devoted to printed forms of artistic self-marketing; art historian Jörg Scheller curates the thematic exhibition Building Modern Bodies. The Art of Bodybuilding, dedicated to the history and mindset of bodybuilding; and Colombian artist Gabriel Sierra experiments with our perception of present, space, and time, inviting visitors to live through a déjà vu experience.
“I’m interested in how space and time collide. When it happens, a small event or situation occurs in this world we know.” Gabriel Sierra (b. 1975 in San Juan Nepomuceno, Colombia; lives and works in Bogotá), engages with the language of objects used and spaces occupied by people. Man-made, these rooms and things have become charged with the notions, fears, and convictions that govern our lives. On the basis of design and architecture, Sierra develops sculptures, spatial interventions, performances, and texts, always investigating the behavior of man in relation to his environment. Occupying the entire first floor of Kunsthalle Zürich, the show is dedicated to that moment in which a visitor steps into an exhibition space and sees the show for the first time. Before Present looks at the déjà vu, that surprising and eerie moment in which past and present seem perfectly aligned.
They Printed It! focuses on invitations, press releases, and inserts made by artists. These apparently unimportant items are frequently overlooked and carelessly discarded—but although they are used for announcements and self-marketing, they are sometimes also artworks in their own right. As a space for experiments, they enticingly promise to spread art almost unnoticed among the masses. Artists such as Maria Eichhorn, Louise Lawler, Martin Kippenberger, Pierre Leguillon, Jonathan Monk, Albert Oehlen, Michael Riedel, and Heimo Zobernig have systematically worked with this medium and made productive use of the contradictions on which it is based. Conversely, galleries such as Bruno Bischofberger, neugerriemschneider, Matthew Marks, and The Modern Institute, as well as institutions such as agnès b., Les Complices*, Low Bet, Message Salon, New Jerseyy, Ringier with his annual reports, the Swiss Institute, and Kunsthalle Zürich, along with the advertising industry, have used similar approaches in their means of communication. At Kunsthalle Zürich, in cooperation with Zurich-based collector Christoph Schifferli, numerous invitations, press releases, and printed materials will be spread across the walls, exhibited in display cases, and stored in boxes. Everyone is invited to help create the online archive theyprintedit.com. As our visitor, you will be requested to be part of the project by choosing invitation cards, uploading them to our archive blog, and adding your own comments. The aim is to build an archive through a dialogue of many different voices, which will be accessible worldwide online beginning in mid-November. On Saturday, November 21, a full-day symposium reflects the lesser known history of artistic ephemera, attempts a contemporary inventory, and discusses how an at times nostalgic relationship to printed material impacts the collection policies of art institutions.
Why did humans start shaping their bodies as if they were both sculptor and sculpture? When and with whom did this “iconic turn” of Western body culture take place? How deeply is the hybrid, hyperbolic culture of bodybuilding in the postmodern era linked to the fine arts? What does it mean when workouts are once again branded as “functional” and the bearded hipster doing squats resembles the old German “gym daddy Jahn”? The exhibition Building Modern Bodies. The Art of Bodybuilding, curated by Jörg Scheller, art historian, lecturer at Zurich University of the Arts and bodybuilding expert, comes complete with films, drawings, a pump station, panel discussions, and lectures set between gym equipment.
Visit our website for further information on the exhibitions and events.
The exhibition Before Present by Gabriel Sierra is supported by artEDU Foundation.
The project They Printed It! is supported by Pro Helvetia.
Kunsthalle Zürich receives generous funding from:
Stadt Zürich Kultur, Kanton Zürich Fachstelle Kultur, LUMA Foundation
