Schaufenster Junge Kunst
Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen
03.04.21-11.07.21
→ O N L I N E E X H I B I T I O N
Curated by Madeleine Frey
In the exhibition Motion is Solution artist Thomas Lempertz explores how static elements can give rise to dynamics and power, combining image, object, performance, dance, sound and video to create a synthesis of the arts. The starting point is his theory that motion in the physical or psychological sense can have a cathartic effect. Motion can initiate a process of solution, untethering, perhaps even salvation. In order to bring about creative change, colloquially to “blow away the cobwebs”, to take one’s mind off things so as to find the time and leisure to take fresh heart and muster the strength to solve problems, to overcome obstacles, we need motion. The physical experience of standstill on the other hand is obstructive, for our inner processes and, as a result, just as much for our interaction with the outside world.As viewers, we are not left out. Instead, we can take part in the process of solution and untethering, with the exhibition invoking different senses and thus allowing us to literally feel with the exhibits. The various media on show in the exhibition invite us to reflect on our own perception. Silicone-covered photographs and a picture painted with silicone present a haptic experience that goes beyond mere viewing, enabling associations that combine seeing and feeling. Sculptures reassembled from used ballet barres from the old John Cranko School in Stuttgart to create an art object extend the image space into three dimensions. Their smell of sweat and wood testifies to the gruelling exercises that dancers underwent during their training. At the same time, they are possessed of a lightness which only consummate ballet can convey. The reassembled ballet barres, now objects of art, appear to defy gravity, gliding into a moment of weightlessness. The performance by ballet dancer Mackenzie Brown adds to this impression. In dance, the ambivalence of exertion and transcendence is dissolved, with objecthood segueing into a physical, living experience. The fluid sound that descends upon the whole scene acts as a kind of acoustic setting which the dancer moves around in and also creates. Conserved in a film, the exhibition becomes a video work, allowing visitors to experience the installation in physical space as well as in the digital realm.
Text: Madeleine Frey