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19/8/2010

Anri Sala

MMK - Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt

The “Title Suspended” installation by renowned artist Anri Sala is the ninth and penultimate installment in the “Double” exhibition series at MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt/Main. The artist’s installation was devised for Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst in Bremerhaven in 2008 and has been faithfully reconstructed at MMK, where it will be on show from August 20 to October 31.

The MMK developed the exhibition series in close cooperation with curators Gregor Schneider and Moritz Wesseler, and chose for it ten exemplary projects that give an impression of the legendary exhibition work of the gallery in Bremerhaven.

Sala’s installation “Title Suspended” (2008) presents two plastic hands stuck in violet thin rubber gloves. They slowly revolve endlessly around their own axis. Viewers soon perceive the reference to one of the most important works of art history: Sala’s reconstruction of this detail alludes to one of Michelangelo’s central frescos, namely “The Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. It shows God the Father, who is trying with his outstretched finger to reach Adam, who lies on the ground, to instill him (and by extension humanity as a whole) with the spark of life. However, the viewer does not actually see the moment when the finger touches the body. Anri Sala gives this artistic idea a grotesque spin in his installation. The fingers in the hands cyclically swiveling around their axis gradually fill out until they seemingly emulate Michelangelo’s figure perfectly. Yet in the very moment when the representation achieves absolute beauty, the gloved fingers collapse. The desire for touch remains unfulfilled. The antibacterial and anti-allergic sterile gloves prevent any bodily contact.

Dagmar Kürschner, who is in charge of the “Double” project at MMK, comments that “this vivid installation is an example of the poetry of Sala’s works: It offers viewers not only a dense atmospheric image with multiple levels of interpretation, but is infused with subtle humor, too.”

Viewers experience the eternal repetition of a subtle moment between immobility and movement that likewise pinpoints the thin line between absolute success and failure. In this way, the installation resembles Sala’s films and videos in addressing questions of identity and historical relevance.

Anri Sala was born in 1974 in Tirana, Albania and is widely considered as one of the major talents in the younger art scene. He is especially well known for his films. In 2001, he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennial. In 2005, Sala was awarded the Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst and the Hugo Boss Prize.

Anri Sala’s installation “Title Suspended” went on show in Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst in Bremerhaven in 2008 and forms the penultimate show in the “Double” exhibition series. The artist evidently concerns himself with issues of identity and historical relevance, addressing them in his films and videos and installations. “Title Suspended” shows a subtle moment between immobility and movement, repeated endlessly, and also seems suspended between failure and grandiose success.

MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst
Domstraße 10 - 60311 Frankfurt/Main
Hours:
Tue. and Thurs. – Sun. 10 a. m. – 6 p. m.
Wed. 10 a. m. – 8 p. m.
Closed on Monday

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