Miriam Cahn
dal 28/9/2011 al 16/12/2011
Segnalato da
28/9/2011
Miriam Cahn
David Roberts Art Foundation Fitzrovia, London
The exhibition includes several new works and installations together with a selection of paintings, drawings and photographs spanning her career from 1978 to 2011. Cahn's work emerged from a compelling physical experience instilled by the performative happenings of the 70s and is heavily influenced by the feminist movement of the 1960s. Her practice grew to include films, music, photography, she works in series, some of which are related to political issues, for instance her series of works on Sarajevo or the Iraq war.
curated by Vincent Honoré
This exhibition marks the first solo presentation of Miriam Cahn in London. It will
include several new works and installations together with a selection of paintings,
drawings and photographs—spanning her career from 1978 to 2011. The exhibition is
curated by Vincent Honoré, director and curator of the David Roberts Art Foundation.
Miriam Cahn’s work emerged from a compelling physical experience instilled by the
performative happenings of the 70s and is heavily influenced by the feminist movement
of the 1960s. First structured around performances, large black charcoal drawings and
interventions in the street (for which she was arrested in Basel), her practice grew to
include films, music, photography and the medium for which she is perhaps best known
painting. Cahn’s paintings are uncommon and immediately recognisable: an
extraordinary colorist, she uses vivid pink, violet and blue to represent ghostly
silhouettes, faces and animals. Cahn works in series, some of which are related to political
issues, for instance her series of works on Sarajevo or the Iraq war.
The exhibition opens with the room installation Schlafen (1997), comprising of thirteen
paintings of lying figures of different sizes. The lying figure in Cahn’s imagery has often
been associated with the war and its disasters; nonetheless the reading of these paintings
remains ambiguous.
A second room installation, RAUMICH räumlichich (2010-11) follows. Shown in London
for the first time, the work consists of ten portraits. The performative element of Miriam
Cahn’s work is just as prevalent as her own corporeality and its influence on the
formation of her pieces. The body is not only the object of contemplation, but also the
medium with which the artist’s corporeal images are expressed. This installation,
probably one of the most ambitious she has produced, expresses a number of her
preoccupations together with revealing a wide range of techniques and forms.
Finally, the third room consists of an installation made of various existing works
including some notebooks with drawings Cahn has never shown, alongside some of her
latest paintings and photographs. Connecting the various media she works across
painting, drawing, performance, film, photography and music—Cahn sets the works in
correspondence with each other within the given space. By allocating her works into
different series she has not only created a private index, dividing the paintings into cycles,
but also demarcates direct positions, which—in the whole and especially when they are
hung together—interact with each other as autonomous bodies of work.
Miriam Cahn (b. 1949, Switzerland) lives and works in Basel and Bergell (GR),
Switzerland. Her works are included in the collections of museums all over the world,
significant solo exhibitions have been held at the Kunsthalle of Basel, Musée la Chaux-de-
Fonds, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Haus am Waldsee in Berlin, Kunsthaus of Zurich,
Kunstverein of Hanover, Musée Rath of Geneva, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt,
Tate Gallery in London, Museum of Modern Art of New York, Cornerhouse in
Manchester. She was included in Documenta 7 in 1982 and represented Switzerland at
the 41st Venice Biennial, in 1984.
The exhibition is supported by Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council.
The David Roberts Art Foundation: exhibiting, producing, sharing. A platform dedicated
to critical dialogues and experiments, directed and curated by Vincent Honoré.
For more information and images please contact:
Sandra Pusterhofer, Assistant Curator at The David Roberts Art Foundation Fitzrovia Tel: 020 7637 0868 Email: sandra@davidrobertsartfoundation.com
Opening reception 29th september 2011 from 6.30p.m.
The David Roberts Art Foundation
111 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 6RY
Opening times: Tuesday – Friday 10am -6pm, Saturday 11am – 4pm