2018–2019 Kunsthalle wien Exhibition
Kelm’s conceptual approach, the exceptional sharpness of her images, and the neutral lighting lend the scenes rendered in her works a peculiar salience. The emphasis on the factual precludes any symbolism strictly speaking, yet the cultural or ideological character with which certain objects are fraught is unmistakable. This focus on formal criteria and the eschewal of narration of any kind are also destabilized by the selective insertion of props that bear no readily recognizable relation to a picture’s central object.
The exhibition at Kunsthalle Wien turns the spotlight on works in which architecture, design, or constellations of objects are revealed to be visual manifestations of complex genealogies. The Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau und Schiffsbau in Berlin, an iconic building that houses facilities for experiments in fluid mechanics and ship engineering, appears in Kelm’s photograph as an abstract architectonic volume of color. In the series Friendly Tournament, the shooting targets pitted with holes and small craters where they were struck by arrows recall Lucio Fontana’s perforated canvases and offer an analysis of the interrelation between figure and ground, between three-dimensional reality and its representation, which is both intellectually astute and concise. Yet here, too, something enigmatic remains. In these and many other works, Kelm’s visual creations crystallize a fascinating paradox: the signifiers and motifs are perfectly legible, but their openness at the same time leads to manifold assiciations. There are traces we can pursue, references we can decode, but in the end it is the exacting photographic gaze on things that prompts us to reflect on reality and the potentials of its representation.
DIGITAL
Some performances and presentations accompanied the exhibition, that can be viewed online.
With contributions by Michaela Meise, Barbara Wagner, Sonja Cvitkovic, Catalon, Megan Francis Sullivan, Marine Drouan, Verena Dengler und Anke Dyes, Marija Andjic, Matti Felber, Donya Salehijozani, Daniel Schneider, Zobaydollah Rahimi, Keivan Valadan.
Curator: Nicolaus Schafhausen
Artist: Annette Kelm
(born in Stuttgart in 1975) creates conceptual photographs that deal with the conventions of seeing and showing as well as the contrivednature of images, laying bare the circumstances under which these images are produced. In her still lifes, portraits, landscape and architecture photographs, Kelm documents everyday modern culture, frequently making use of object photography to do so. Taken out of their original context and set in new arrangements, her motifs evoke associations that highlight artistic, historical, and sociocultural references.
The publication accompanies the exhibition, published by Sternberg Press (Berlin) with contributions by Vanessa Joan Müller and Anna Voswinckel.
The foregoing texts and images are provided and copyrighted by: https://kunsthallewien.at
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