Alexander Rischer, Frank Hesse
03 - 26 Apr 2008
ALEXANDER RISCHER, FRANK HESSE
"Rustikale Tradition"
03.04. – 26.04. 2008, Opening 03.04.2008 at 7 pm
“Was aber, wenn empirisches Wissen zu einer gegebenen Zeit und innerhalb einer gegebenen Kultur ‘wirklich’ eine wohldefinierte Regelmäßigkeit besäße?”
(Michel Foucault: Die Ordnung der Dinge. Eine Archäologie der Humanwissenschaften, Vorwort zur deutschen Ausgabe, Frankfurt 1971, S. 9)
The speculative question about the worth of “handed down” history aside the historical mainstream is typical of the work of the artists Alexander Rischer and Frank Hesse who both studied at HfBK Hamburg and are now exhibiting for the first time together at the project space “Hermes und der Pfau”. Both artists use materials that are just outside the context of art to develop an allegorical path for their exhibition “Rustikale Tradition”. This work is about stories off the beaten track and strange life-worlds, which always hold a certain feeling of the grotesque. The title of the exhibition is derived from a campaign for the rehabilitation of wall units by the advertising agency “Dorten” (which is offering the rooms to “Hermes und der Pfau”). It is a hint to both artists’ way of working, which is based on the thin line between scientifically precise and free-associative research. The stories being told in the works of Alexander Rischer and Frank Hesse result in a very peculiar style of historical research, more literarily than analytically connected. The focus is on the marginal and provincial, which is rather being neglected in classical art history and cultural history.
In his videowork “Florenz – Von Santa Croce zum Kunsthistorischen Institut” Frank Hesse is examining the so called “Stendhal-Syndrome”, characterized by rapid heartbeat, dizziness and a feeling of faintness. According to the Italian psychologist Graziella Magherini it is caused by an exorbitance of art and beauty. Mostly Americans, British and Germans are affected by this sickness (Italians seem to be immune). The term “Stendhal-Syndrome” comes from the French writer Stendhal who was describing the symptoms that had affected him after a visit to see the frescoes and memorials in the richly decorated Church of Santa Croce in the Italian city of Florence in 1817: “On leaving the Santa Croce church, I felt a pulsating in my heart. Life was draining out of me, while I walked fearing a fall.” (Stendhal: “Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio”, 1817). Small scale architecural structures like memorials in the country side (Flurdenkmale), pigeon houses (Taubenhäuser) and lamp-topped pillars placed in graveyards to provide light for the souls of the dead (Totenleuchten), which functions are mostly forgotten and which most tourists do not pay much attention to are the motives of the work of Alexander Rischer. He travels through the whole of Europe documenting these motives using analogue black and white photography. The photographs, which are presented in no specific order, carry the mystical charm of weird stories and unimagined stylistic connections. They direct the focus to insignificant objects, like the small rear building, that is housing “Hermes und der Pfau”. These objects are preserving historical and topological characteristics of places as ruins and relics within themselves.
Frank Hesse was born in Stuttgart in 1970. He studied at HfbK Hamburg from 1995 to 2003, and is now a guest lecturer for the Department of Fine Arts at Hochschule der Künste in Zurich. His exhibitions include “Korrespondenzen. Kunst und Literatur, Enzyklopädien und Deklinationen”, Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, “Mapping the City”, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, “Say it isn’t so”, Neues Museum Weserburg in Bremen and “My Dear Beneficiary”, Palais für aktuelle Kunst in Glückstadt (Solo).
Alexander Rischer was born in Hamburg in 1968. He studied from 1989 to 1997 at HfbK Hamburg, where he is still living and working. Currently his works are on show at the exhibition “Caput Corvi” at Kunstverein Hildesheim (Solo). His work was also shown at White Space, Zurich, Galerie Dursewitz-Sapre, Hamburg, Galerie für Landschaftskunst, Hamburg and the Schürmann Collection at SK-Stiftung, Cologne.
Frank Hesse und Alexander Rischer are represented by Adamski Gallery for Contemporary Art, Aachen/Berlin.
"Rustikale Tradition"
03.04. – 26.04. 2008, Opening 03.04.2008 at 7 pm
“Was aber, wenn empirisches Wissen zu einer gegebenen Zeit und innerhalb einer gegebenen Kultur ‘wirklich’ eine wohldefinierte Regelmäßigkeit besäße?”
(Michel Foucault: Die Ordnung der Dinge. Eine Archäologie der Humanwissenschaften, Vorwort zur deutschen Ausgabe, Frankfurt 1971, S. 9)
The speculative question about the worth of “handed down” history aside the historical mainstream is typical of the work of the artists Alexander Rischer and Frank Hesse who both studied at HfBK Hamburg and are now exhibiting for the first time together at the project space “Hermes und der Pfau”. Both artists use materials that are just outside the context of art to develop an allegorical path for their exhibition “Rustikale Tradition”. This work is about stories off the beaten track and strange life-worlds, which always hold a certain feeling of the grotesque. The title of the exhibition is derived from a campaign for the rehabilitation of wall units by the advertising agency “Dorten” (which is offering the rooms to “Hermes und der Pfau”). It is a hint to both artists’ way of working, which is based on the thin line between scientifically precise and free-associative research. The stories being told in the works of Alexander Rischer and Frank Hesse result in a very peculiar style of historical research, more literarily than analytically connected. The focus is on the marginal and provincial, which is rather being neglected in classical art history and cultural history.
In his videowork “Florenz – Von Santa Croce zum Kunsthistorischen Institut” Frank Hesse is examining the so called “Stendhal-Syndrome”, characterized by rapid heartbeat, dizziness and a feeling of faintness. According to the Italian psychologist Graziella Magherini it is caused by an exorbitance of art and beauty. Mostly Americans, British and Germans are affected by this sickness (Italians seem to be immune). The term “Stendhal-Syndrome” comes from the French writer Stendhal who was describing the symptoms that had affected him after a visit to see the frescoes and memorials in the richly decorated Church of Santa Croce in the Italian city of Florence in 1817: “On leaving the Santa Croce church, I felt a pulsating in my heart. Life was draining out of me, while I walked fearing a fall.” (Stendhal: “Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio”, 1817). Small scale architecural structures like memorials in the country side (Flurdenkmale), pigeon houses (Taubenhäuser) and lamp-topped pillars placed in graveyards to provide light for the souls of the dead (Totenleuchten), which functions are mostly forgotten and which most tourists do not pay much attention to are the motives of the work of Alexander Rischer. He travels through the whole of Europe documenting these motives using analogue black and white photography. The photographs, which are presented in no specific order, carry the mystical charm of weird stories and unimagined stylistic connections. They direct the focus to insignificant objects, like the small rear building, that is housing “Hermes und der Pfau”. These objects are preserving historical and topological characteristics of places as ruins and relics within themselves.
Frank Hesse was born in Stuttgart in 1970. He studied at HfbK Hamburg from 1995 to 2003, and is now a guest lecturer for the Department of Fine Arts at Hochschule der Künste in Zurich. His exhibitions include “Korrespondenzen. Kunst und Literatur, Enzyklopädien und Deklinationen”, Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, “Mapping the City”, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, “Say it isn’t so”, Neues Museum Weserburg in Bremen and “My Dear Beneficiary”, Palais für aktuelle Kunst in Glückstadt (Solo).
Alexander Rischer was born in Hamburg in 1968. He studied from 1989 to 1997 at HfbK Hamburg, where he is still living and working. Currently his works are on show at the exhibition “Caput Corvi” at Kunstverein Hildesheim (Solo). His work was also shown at White Space, Zurich, Galerie Dursewitz-Sapre, Hamburg, Galerie für Landschaftskunst, Hamburg and the Schürmann Collection at SK-Stiftung, Cologne.
Frank Hesse und Alexander Rischer are represented by Adamski Gallery for Contemporary Art, Aachen/Berlin.