Kilian Ruthemann
dal 23/3/2010 al 23/5/2010
Segnalato da
23/3/2010
Kilian Ruthemann
Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel
Attacca. An investigation of the notion of sculpture with an array of architectural interventions. Much less interested in the stasis or monumentality of sculpture than its decay and dissolution, the artist's works create new environments that reveal the essence and unpredictability of the materials themselves. Through employing and manipulating functional and everyday materials, he re-configures their potential (and their limitations).
Manor Art Award Basel
curated by Scott C. Weaver
The Museum für Gegenwartskunst is pleased to present Kilian Rüthemann (born 1979 in
Bütschwil, St. Gallen, lives and works in Basel) as recipient of the Manor-Kunstpreis Basel
2010 with a solo exhibition "Attacca" in the museum’s top floor. Rüthemann’s exhibition
represents an investigation of the notion of sculpture with an array of architectural
interventions. Initially trained as a classical sculptor, Kilian Rüthemann’s practice is
grounded in his interest in materials.
Employing a palette exclusively of concrete, plaster,
steel and polyurethane foam, Rüthemann’s site specific works not only aptly demonstrate
his fascination with the potential of these usually functional materials, but also call attention
to the dramatization of their own conception. By enlisting the consultation of a local expert
stuccoworker for the complicated installation, for example, the exhibition manifests as a
collection of formal and gestural citations from an appropriated language of (construction)
technologies.
The insinuated but invisible actions involved in the installation (or application)
of these works within the exhibition space become central to our understanding of their
materiality. Or whereas Yves Klein’s Pienture feu claimed an end to the modernist ideals of
painting, with Rüthemann’s Double Rich wall-drawings, we see his fascinating with the
materiality (or rather, immateriality) of fire itself. His works convey a gestural and tactile
immediacy. Much less interested in the stasis or monumentality of sculpture than its decay
and dissolution, Rüthemann’s works create new environments that reveal the essence and
unpredictability of the materials themselves. Rüthemann’s process-based installations
reveal the tension between the material and the ephemeral.
Rüthemann has shown his works in number of solo and group exhibitions, for example
Kunsthaus Baselland (2007), the Kunsthalle Basel (2007), and in the 5th Berlin Biennial for
Contemporary Art (2008). Together with the Kunsthaus Glarus and the Istituto Svizzero di
Roma – where Kilian Rüthemann mounted successful solo exhibitions in the past year
("Sooner rather than later" and "Double Rich") – the Museum für Gegenwartskunst is
please to announce the forthcoming publication of a comprehensive monographic
catalogue in the form of a special artist’s book. This catalogue will be introduced in a
special presentation on May 12 at 18.30 p.m in the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel.
Image: Ohne Titel, 2009, Parkett, 150 x 70 cm, "Fragile Monumente", Suzie Q Projects, Zürich. 2009
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