Antonia Hirsch: Phenomenal Fracture

Kunsthalle Lingen is proud to present the work of German-Canadian artist Antonia Hirsch in her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany. Phenomenal Fracture includes more than a dozen sculptures created over the past four years, complemented by two large-scale inflatable objects created specifically for the exhibition that engage with the Kunsthalle’s interior architecture.

Based on her ongoing exploration of the screen as a ubiquitous object, Hirsch examines the chasm between the digital and the analogue and, in doing so, addresses what we perceive as our lived reality. In her sculptures, the distinctions between screen, mirror, and blade become fluid. Her work features strict geometric forms of shimmering glass and steel that meet with ephemeral materials, such cardboard or soft foam. Shiny surfaces reflect our gaze but the less noble materials, too, invite a physical recognition. The exhibition’s title refers to phenomenology, which, according to Maurice Merleau-Ponty, describes the acquisition of knowledge neither as purely intellectual nor as solely spiritual. Perception is an embodied process and Hirsch’s exhibition empirically traces this hypothesis.

Antonia Hirsch received her BFA from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (London, England). She has been based in Berlin since 2010. Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including MIT List Visual Arts Center (Cambridge, USA); Salzburger Kunstverein (Austria); Taipei Fine Arts Museum (Taiwan); Tramway (Glasgow, Scotland); Kunstinstituut Melly, FKA Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art (Rotterdam, Netherlands); ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (Germany); and in Canada at Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto), and Vancouver Art Gallery.

In September 2024, a 64-page catalog of the exhibition will be published in German and English. It will include an essay by Meike Behm, director of Kunsthalle Lingen, alongside installation views and images of individual works. The publication is designed by Adeline Morlon.

Phenomenal Fracture is generously supported by the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung together with the Emsländische Sparkassenstiftung, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Embassy of Canada, Berlin. The Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture, the district of Emsland, the town of Lingen (Ems), the Heinrich Kampmann Cultural Foundation together with the Kunstverein’s membership additionally provided generous support.