Anna Möller
31 Aug - 17 Nov 2012
© Anna Möller
no half measure, NO scratching on the surface, 2012
Installation view at Galerie Cinzia Friedlaender
no half measure, NO scratching on the surface, 2012
Installation view at Galerie Cinzia Friedlaender
ANNA MÖLLER
no half measure, NO scratching on the surface
31 August – 17 November 2012
For her second solo show at Galerie Cinzia Friedlaender, Anna Möller continues her critical exploration of the notions of seeing and the practices of showing. With her site-specific sculptural installations, she seeks to challenge the very idea of representation. This endeavor creates a tension, however, of working with means of presentation while questioning its very nature. This specific tension is effectively at the core of her artistic gestures that are necessarily temporary, provisional, ephemeral and volatile.
Three metal objects resembling shelves or display cabinets occupy the gallery space. These semifunctional objects are not completely assembled: pieces are missing and the structure might look ―unfinished. Their arrangement in the room also evokes a sense of provisional placing of no particular pre-meditation. Objects divide the space like obstacles; no single angle offers a complete view of the show. The viewer must move in the room, his or her physicality also enter the realm of presentation. Work spot lights placed on the floor make up the only source of light in the gallery, while their power cords are laid down in heap.
Engraved glass plates are placed on and in the metal objects. Notes and empty spaces are discernable on the thin glass plates. The glass plates are machine cut to a square of 50 x 70 cm. The engravings on the glass seem hastily done, by hand, like a scratching on the surface, more reminiscent of an act of vandalism than a stylized engraving that is made to capture an important memory.
The text fragments stem from notes and some quotes that relate to the artist’s meditations on the hierarchical structure or politics of seeing. (With the shelves built low, one has to bend over and look down to see the engravings.) Showing, exposing, and on the other hand hiding and obfuscating are recurrent themes in Möller’s work. A further theme that plays a role for the artist is her interpretations and processing of feminist writings from various decades – a theme not without its implications for a young female artist. The title of the show as well is taken from the feminist manifesto of early modernist artist and writer Mina Loy:
"Women if you want to realize yourselves-you are on the eve of a devastating psychological upheaval-all your pet illusions must be unmasked—the lies of centuries have got to go—are you prepared for the Wrench–? There is no half-measure—NO scratching on the surface of the rubbish heap of tradition, will bring about Reform, the only method is Absolute Demolition" she writes in 1918. Loy’s manifesto was a product of its time and Möller’s referencing of it is done with a pinch of irony. After all, isn’t the work of an artist akin to a scratching on the surface?
Möller does not make assertions with her work; she rather highlights the conventions underpinning artistic practice instead. Lingering in the intermittent realm of uncertainty, she suggests, makes room for challenging the given order.
Text: Hili Perlson
no half measure, NO scratching on the surface
31 August – 17 November 2012
For her second solo show at Galerie Cinzia Friedlaender, Anna Möller continues her critical exploration of the notions of seeing and the practices of showing. With her site-specific sculptural installations, she seeks to challenge the very idea of representation. This endeavor creates a tension, however, of working with means of presentation while questioning its very nature. This specific tension is effectively at the core of her artistic gestures that are necessarily temporary, provisional, ephemeral and volatile.
Three metal objects resembling shelves or display cabinets occupy the gallery space. These semifunctional objects are not completely assembled: pieces are missing and the structure might look ―unfinished. Their arrangement in the room also evokes a sense of provisional placing of no particular pre-meditation. Objects divide the space like obstacles; no single angle offers a complete view of the show. The viewer must move in the room, his or her physicality also enter the realm of presentation. Work spot lights placed on the floor make up the only source of light in the gallery, while their power cords are laid down in heap.
Engraved glass plates are placed on and in the metal objects. Notes and empty spaces are discernable on the thin glass plates. The glass plates are machine cut to a square of 50 x 70 cm. The engravings on the glass seem hastily done, by hand, like a scratching on the surface, more reminiscent of an act of vandalism than a stylized engraving that is made to capture an important memory.
The text fragments stem from notes and some quotes that relate to the artist’s meditations on the hierarchical structure or politics of seeing. (With the shelves built low, one has to bend over and look down to see the engravings.) Showing, exposing, and on the other hand hiding and obfuscating are recurrent themes in Möller’s work. A further theme that plays a role for the artist is her interpretations and processing of feminist writings from various decades – a theme not without its implications for a young female artist. The title of the show as well is taken from the feminist manifesto of early modernist artist and writer Mina Loy:
"Women if you want to realize yourselves-you are on the eve of a devastating psychological upheaval-all your pet illusions must be unmasked—the lies of centuries have got to go—are you prepared for the Wrench–? There is no half-measure—NO scratching on the surface of the rubbish heap of tradition, will bring about Reform, the only method is Absolute Demolition" she writes in 1918. Loy’s manifesto was a product of its time and Möller’s referencing of it is done with a pinch of irony. After all, isn’t the work of an artist akin to a scratching on the surface?
Möller does not make assertions with her work; she rather highlights the conventions underpinning artistic practice instead. Lingering in the intermittent realm of uncertainty, she suggests, makes room for challenging the given order.
Text: Hili Perlson