Virginia Zanetti
dal 19/10/2011 al 25/11/2011
Segnalato da
19/10/2011
Virginia Zanetti
Galerie Eletto, Bern
Curare il Curatore - a Collaboration with Hans Ulrich Obrist. Curators take on a growing role in Zanetti's life and she sees the portraits as a synthesis of a collective picture - the artist creates portraits which, while recognisable, have been strongly filtered by her personal imagination. This basically represents the converse normative relationship between the artist and the curator. The series of works can be seen as part of a performance with an open end.
In 2004, German journalist Hanno Rauterberg indignantly stated in the 'Zeit': 'Artists are critics, critics are curators and curators are artists' and called for clearer distinctions between the different actors of the art business. The role of the curator in particular ought to be defined more precisely. Seven years later, a clear definition is as impossible as ever, seeing that nowadays clothing stores are being 'curated'.
To a large extent, 20th century art history also encompasses the history of exhibition - following the classical salon exhibitions, the 20th century spawned numerous legendary and groundbreaking exhibitions, initially organized by artists or collectors, after WWII increasingly also by individual museum directors, who adopted the principle of unleashed subjectivity.
In 'a brief history of curating', Hans Ulrich Obrist presents various pathbreaking curators – amongst them Szeemann, Lippard and Hopps - in discussion form and provides a considerable collection of interviews which will enter the research canon of art history.
Mandated by Obrist and Gianni Romano (postmediabooks, 2011), artist Virginia Zanetti (1981) further expands said collection in a certain way, contributing painted portraits to the Italian version of the standard work. Zanetti created portraits of these figures of modern curation without knowing them personally after having compiled an impressive archive of text and pictures. With this project, the artist, who has already gained substantial notoriety in Italy through her light and investigative watercolor paintings, laid the foundation to a long-term work in which her aim will be to create a kind of diagram of curation.
Curators take on a growing role in Zanetti's life and she sees the portraits as a synthesis of a collective picture – the artist creates portraits which, while recognisable, have been strongly filtered by her personal imagination. This basically represents the converse normative relationship between the artist and the curator.
The series of works can be seen as part of a performance with an open end.
The Eletto gallery is proud to present the originals from 'una breve storia della curatela' and other works for the first time - this also being the first solo exhibition of the artist in Switzerland.
Image: Virginia Zanetti: Harald Szeemann, 2011
Watercolour
Opening: 20 October 2011 - 18:00
Galerie Eletto
Rathausgasse 55 - Bern
Opening Hours: Thur/Fri 1 - 6.30 pm, Sat 1 - 5 pm