20.09.2013—09.11.2013

Dunja Herzog. Laughter is usually the end of the conversation

Art, Exhibition personelle, Milano

Opening Friday 20 September H18:30
Party STARTMilano H22:00-24:00

Introduction

Biography

Dates
20.09.2013
09.11.2013
Location
Milano
Category
Art, Exhibition personelle
Information

Opening Friday 20 September H18:30
Party STARTMilano H22:00-24:00

The Istituto Svizzero launches its exhibition program in Milan with a solo show of artist Dunja Herzog (Basel, 1976), on Friday, 20 September, at 6.30 p.m. on the occasion of STARTMilano and continues from 10.00 p.m. through to midnight with a party of the event, that brings together the contemporary art galleries and exhibition spaces of the city. The exhibition will be exclusively open also on Saturday, 21 September (2.00 – 8.00 p.m.) and Sunday, 22 September (2.00 – 6.00 p.m.)

 

The Industrial age and modern life concentrated in cities have brought a surplus production of objects in their wake. We are surrounded and swamped with objects, tools, prostheses, more than in any other time in history. Functional objects, everyday objects, disposable things. What is the value of all this for contemporary occidental society? What are the true functions of these things? What needs do they satisfy? How do they influence our everyday life? After a research that has led her to cross various cultures from the African Continent for many years, Dunja Herzog plunges back into the occidental world, assuming the viewpoint of things. She reassembles materials, mostly found by the wayside and in domestic places, and like a modern teller of fables she grants them a new existence. This exhibition is a world of creatures that we could define as hybrids – for lack of a more precise word – apparently fragile, without definite purpose, maybe useless, with no fixed abode and made of the refuse of our everyday existence. If anyone is willing to pay attention, they can come to life, and also speak. Usually, as in the case of Kafka’s Odradek, the conversation ends in laughter – but it is only the kind of laughter that has no lungs behind it. It sounds rather like the rustling of fallen leaves. Will anyone point out that the emperor has no clothes?

 

After graduating at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst at FHNW in Basel, Dunja Herzog obtained a M.A. at the Glasgow School of Art in 2012. “Laughter is usually the end of the conversation” is her first solo show in Italy. Dunja Herzog lives and works in Basel and Berlin. Selected solo shows: Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel (with G. Küng). 2011: Ribordy contemporary, Geneva. 2009: Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland; CRAC Alsace, Altkirch, France. Selected group shows: 2013: “Garten-Kunst-Architektur I”, Sic! Raum für Kunst, Luzern. 2012: “Balises”, Piano Nobile, Geneva; “Auswahl 12”, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland; “At Home IX”, Galerie J, Geneva; “Stay Vector, Stay!”, Albion street, Glasgow ; “ftanufacture”, CentrePasquArt, Bienne, Switzerland. 2011: “fteubler la solitude”, Kunsthaus Baselland, ftuttenz, Switzerland; “The Wonders of the Invisible World”, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK; “Territoires”, BEX & ARTS, Bex, Switzerland; “Il n’y a que les montagnes qui ne se rencontrent pas”, Agent Double, Geneva. 2010: Swiss Art Awards, Basel; “Stardust in a Nutshell”, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin; “Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession)”, Istituto Svizzero di Roma and Kunsthalle Basel. 2009: “Prolog”, Frohe Aussicht, Zurich; “US”, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg. 2008: “Regionale 9”, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel.