Fritz Balthaus
24 Feb - 03 May 2006
jetzt | now 7
FRITZ BALTHAUS
1 Colli
24 Feb - 03 May 2006
Fritz Balthaus is an investigator. His works are layouts of experimental procedure that take ironic stabs at the art world and curatorial practice. They uncover and display hidden processes, giving them tangible forms. As in his piece “marked space – unmarked space”, commissioned by the Berlinische Galerie in 2004, the subject of “1 Colli” is the museum itself, here functioning not only as a place for art’s presentation but also its formation – the museum posing as sculptor.
The starting point for “1 Colli” was the idea to build the largest hypothetical “piece” that could be transported, stored, and exhibited in the Berlinische Galerie. The measurements for the sculpture’s initial dimensions are dictated by the gateway through which all works of art enter a museum: the freight elevator.
The sculpture’s subsequent formation, instead of showing the artist’s handwriting, is strictly determined by all obstacles and restrictions encountered in the building en route to its destinations in the storage vaults and exhibition room. In this way door frames, ventilation shafts, walls, corners, and the equipment used for its transport precisely carve their traces into the form of the piece. The exhibited work is thus a sum of circumstantial evidence about how art is handled in the hidden insides of the museum and a sculptural manifestation of this process.
© Fritz Balthaus, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2006
1 Colli
Foto: Rafal Wamka
FRITZ BALTHAUS
1 Colli
24 Feb - 03 May 2006
Fritz Balthaus is an investigator. His works are layouts of experimental procedure that take ironic stabs at the art world and curatorial practice. They uncover and display hidden processes, giving them tangible forms. As in his piece “marked space – unmarked space”, commissioned by the Berlinische Galerie in 2004, the subject of “1 Colli” is the museum itself, here functioning not only as a place for art’s presentation but also its formation – the museum posing as sculptor.
The starting point for “1 Colli” was the idea to build the largest hypothetical “piece” that could be transported, stored, and exhibited in the Berlinische Galerie. The measurements for the sculpture’s initial dimensions are dictated by the gateway through which all works of art enter a museum: the freight elevator.
The sculpture’s subsequent formation, instead of showing the artist’s handwriting, is strictly determined by all obstacles and restrictions encountered in the building en route to its destinations in the storage vaults and exhibition room. In this way door frames, ventilation shafts, walls, corners, and the equipment used for its transport precisely carve their traces into the form of the piece. The exhibited work is thus a sum of circumstantial evidence about how art is handled in the hidden insides of the museum and a sculptural manifestation of this process.
© Fritz Balthaus, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2006
1 Colli
Foto: Rafal Wamka