MAYA SCHWEIZER / CLEMENS VON WEDEMEYER: „METROPOLIS. BERICHT ÜBER CHINA“
11 Mar - 08 May 2011
„Metropolis, Report from China“ (Turm), 2004-2006 Produktionsfotografie / Production photograph, 2006 © Maya Schweizer and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2011 Courtesy Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, KOCH OBERHUBER WOLFF, Berlin
„Metropolis, Report from China“ (Turm), 2004-2006 Produktionsfotografie / Production photograph, 2006 © Maya Schweizer and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2011 Courtesy Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, KOCH OBERHUBER WOLFF, Berlin
MAYA SCHWEIZER / CLEMENS VON WEDEMEYER:
“METROPOLIS. REPORT FROM CHINA”
March 11 – May 8, 2011
Press Preview/ Opening: March 10, 2011
Central to the exhibition is the presentation of the documentary film “Metropolis. Report from China” by Maya Schweizer (born 1976) and Clemens von Wedemeyer (born 1974). The research for the joint project of remaking Fritz Lang’s legendary film “Metropolis”, brought the two artists to Shanghai and Beijing in 2004, where the documentary film “Metropolis. Report from China” was developed. The work provides insights into the explosive growth of modern Chinese metropolis and questions the impact of the unrestrained drive for modernization, development, and progress.
In their film, Schweizer/Wedemeyer refer to social-critical issues and the architectural settings of major historical events. Through images as well as conversations and interviews with workers and architects responisble for the construction of the Chinese
mega-cities, the film thus documents the urban fabric, which is determined by social inequality. “Metropolis. Report from China” is an artistic comparison between Lang’s utopia of the 1920s and a contemporary communist system verging on capitalist working conditions. The project investigates aspects of the utopian in architectural environments and thereby raises the question as to the relevance and social reality of such urban utopias.
For the exhibition at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Maya Schweizer and Clemens von Wedemeyer are showing a reworked version of their project “Metropolis. Report from China”, which they present as a dense installation of photographs, slides, and film-historical material. Also on view is Maya Schweizer’s work “Newlaville,” which through the use of large posters and slides draws on a 2002 advertising campaign promoting the radical modernization of old neighborhoods in Beijing.
Curated by: Holger Kube Ventura,
Stefanie Spiegelhalder
The exhibition “Metropolis. Report from China” is taking place in conjunction with Thermostat, a cooperative project involving 24 French centres d’art and German Kunstvereine. It is an initiative of the association of French centres d’art, d.c.a and the Institut français. The project is also supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the French Ministry of Culture and Culturesfrance, and the German Commissioner for French-German Cultural Cooperation.
“METROPOLIS. REPORT FROM CHINA”
March 11 – May 8, 2011
Press Preview/ Opening: March 10, 2011
Central to the exhibition is the presentation of the documentary film “Metropolis. Report from China” by Maya Schweizer (born 1976) and Clemens von Wedemeyer (born 1974). The research for the joint project of remaking Fritz Lang’s legendary film “Metropolis”, brought the two artists to Shanghai and Beijing in 2004, where the documentary film “Metropolis. Report from China” was developed. The work provides insights into the explosive growth of modern Chinese metropolis and questions the impact of the unrestrained drive for modernization, development, and progress.
In their film, Schweizer/Wedemeyer refer to social-critical issues and the architectural settings of major historical events. Through images as well as conversations and interviews with workers and architects responisble for the construction of the Chinese
mega-cities, the film thus documents the urban fabric, which is determined by social inequality. “Metropolis. Report from China” is an artistic comparison between Lang’s utopia of the 1920s and a contemporary communist system verging on capitalist working conditions. The project investigates aspects of the utopian in architectural environments and thereby raises the question as to the relevance and social reality of such urban utopias.
For the exhibition at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Maya Schweizer and Clemens von Wedemeyer are showing a reworked version of their project “Metropolis. Report from China”, which they present as a dense installation of photographs, slides, and film-historical material. Also on view is Maya Schweizer’s work “Newlaville,” which through the use of large posters and slides draws on a 2002 advertising campaign promoting the radical modernization of old neighborhoods in Beijing.
Curated by: Holger Kube Ventura,
Stefanie Spiegelhalder
The exhibition “Metropolis. Report from China” is taking place in conjunction with Thermostat, a cooperative project involving 24 French centres d’art and German Kunstvereine. It is an initiative of the association of French centres d’art, d.c.a and the Institut français. The project is also supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the French Ministry of Culture and Culturesfrance, and the German Commissioner for French-German Cultural Cooperation.