Cindy Sherman
dal 5/6/2014 al 12/9/2014
Segnalato da
5/6/2014
Cindy Sherman
Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich
Untitled Horrors. Sherman references the techniques and forms of advertising, cinema and classical painting. The exhibition includes a selection of her early and rarely shown works as well as her latest pieces, some of them monumental and covering entire walls. The principal focus of the overview is the threatening and grotesque and the artist invite the viewer to develop the stories behind her works as they see fit, and come up with their own titles.
From 6 June to 14 September 2014, the Kunsthaus Zürich plays host to a
major retrospective featuring American artist Cindy Sherman (b. 1954).
Sherman is one of the leading exponents of staged photography. In her work
she deals with issues of identity, (gender) roles and physicality, almost
always using herself as the model.
Cindy Sherman’s earliest works were created in 1975. Preceding the celebrated
‘Untitled Film Stills’ (1977-1980), these photographs were produced at home
using an external shutter release, yet they were already concerned with the
issues of identity and role play that are central to her oeuvre. The exhibition
‘Cindy Sherman – Untitled Horrors’ includes a selection of these early and rarely
shown works as well as her latest pieces, some of them monumental and
covering entire walls. Sherman references the techniques and forms of
advertising, cinema and classical painting.
THE THREATENING HEART OF ‘UNTITLED HORRORS’
The principal focus of the overview, which has been compiled by the Kunsthaus
together with the artist, is the threatening and grotesque. The retrospective’s
subtitle, ‘Untitled Horrors’, is partly a reference to the exhibition’s content, but
also a play on the fact that Cindy Sherman invariably labels her photos ‘Untitled’.
She leaves it to the viewer to read the pictures in their own way, inviting them to
develop the stories behind them as they see fit, and come up with their own
titles.
110 WORKS IN TOTAL
The presentation includes all the key works from the various phases of Cindy
Sherman’s artistic career. Iconic pieces from the early period, such as the
famous ‘Untitled Film Stills’ series, reminiscent of Italian Neo-Realism and
American film noir, appear alongside the later photographs of
‘Hollywood/Hampton Types’ (2000-2002), while the ‘Clowns’ (2003-2004)
encounter the ‘Sex Pictures’ series from 1992. These juxtapositions reveal the
remarkable consistency with which, throughout her long career, the artist has
engaged with fundamental issues of human existence and repeatedly explored
new avenues of formal expression. Curated by Mirjam Varadinis and created in
association with the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, and the Moderna Museet,
Stockholm, the 110-work presentation dispenses with a linear or chronological
approach, choosing instead to create unexpected combinations that shed new
light on the oeuvre of this important artist and her exploration of the self
through film and photography.
UNTITLED HORRORS ALSO AVAILABLE IN BOOK FORM
The publication accompanying the exhibition adopts a similarly innovative tactic.
Rather than a classic catalogue with texts on art history, it instead contains
contributions by artists and writers from Europe and the US who were invited to
compose texts that take Cindy Sherman’s work as the basis for a reflection on
its relationship to literature, music, theatre and film. They include Miranda July
(artist, actor), Lars Norén (dramatist, lyricist), Sara Stridsberg (journalist), Sjón
(song lyricist, artist) and the writers Sibylle Berg, Karl Ove Knausgård and Kathy
Acker. Published by Hatje Cantz, the 232-page publication includes 135 illustrations.
It is available from the Kunsthaus shop and bookstores, price CHF 49.
APP AND WORKSHOPS
Sherman’s visual language always provokes a reaction. To enable visitors to
engage with the works, the Kunsthaus has developed a special app for the
exhibition, allowing them to play an active role rather than being mere passive
observers. There is also an art and theatre-based educational programme
entitled ‘People Pictures’. Part of the ‘Summer Workshop’ series, it is aimed at
all generations and uses paintings and sculptures from the Kunsthaus collection
to explore in greater depth the discourse that emerges from Sherman’s works.
CINEMA: OFFICE KILLER
In association with Zurich cinema operator Arthouse Kinos, the Kunsthaus is
organizing a unique screening of Cindy Sherman’s 1997 film ‘Office Killer’.
‘Office Killer’ is a horror comedy with Molly Ringwald, Carol Kane, Barbara
Sukowa and David Thornton, which tells the story of a mousy office worker who
accidentally kills one of her co-workers and then embarks on a murder spree.
The screening at midday on Sunday, 31 August 2014 in the Arthouse Movie 2,
Zurich begins with a short introduction to Sherman’s film and photographic
work by curator Mirjam Varadinis. For further information see: www.arthouse.ch
Supported by Swiss Re – Partner for contemporary art.
Image: Cindy Sherman, Untitled #153, 1985. Chromogenic color print, 170.8 × 125.7 cm © Cindy Sherman. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures, New York.
Kunsthaus Zürich, Press & Public Relations, Kristin Steiner, kristin.steiner@kunsthaus.ch, tel.: +41 (0)44 253 84 13
Kunsthaus Zürich
Heimplatz 1, CH-8001 Zurich
Opening hours: Fri-Sun/Tues 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Wed, Thurs 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Admission including audioguide (E/D): CHF 20 / CHF 15 (concessions). Children
and young people up to the age of 16 free of charge.
Public guided tours: Wednesdays 6 p.m., Sundays 11 a.m.