Christof Zwiener — J’ai tendu des cordes d’étoile à étoile — Galerie Laurent Mueller — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: March 31 → May 21, 2016

On the occasion of his first solo exhibition at the gallery, German artist Christof Zwiener has developed an installation around threads. Zwiener works with the theme of memory connected to the body and its limits, both internal and external. His interventions, sculptures and works are often minimalistic, based on historical events and documentary research, in order to be able to formulate, through his pieces, historical and philosophical references which are often abstract.

The central piece of the exhibition is the installation Castor and Pollux that explores the space of the gallery in a virtuosic way, anchoring itself to the walls of the place, as if groping for it. However in the middle, the threads that form the piece condense so as to form an exact image. The sensual and poetic image conveyed by the installation is deliberate because Zwiener wants to free himself from the weight generally associated with sculpture.

Vue de l’exposition J’ai tendu des cordes d’étoile à étoile Photo © Cyrille Robin

Questioning the origin and provenance of culture since the time of our ancestors, the artist uses the mythological figure of the twin brothers Castor and Pollux, who have been represented many times in the history of art, whether as sculptures or paintings. Through their origin, the two Dioskouri brothers represent divinity and immortality just as much as humanity and mortality. Their meaning is deeply rooted in our Western cultural history, going as far as to be associated with the Gemini constellation.

Vue de l’exposition J’ai tendu des cordes d’étoile à étoile Photo © Cyrille Robin

The horse is Castor and Pollux’s essential attribute; it is a ubiquitous animal in our culture, whether in art or in life, and both in past and modern times. In sculpture, horses have a special status; from equestrian sculptures to Maurizio Cattelan or Berlinde de Bruyckere’s horses. Here, Christof Zwiener chooses to represent the twins Castor and Pollux with two full-size horses. The symbol of the mythological image combined with the figure of the horse and the artist’s technique creates a link with contemporary Western society and offers an investigation of the origin of our culture. It seems that the pieces shown are equally a symbol of the beginning and the end of time.

Vue de l’exposition J’ai tendu des cordes d’étoile à étoile Photo © Cyrille Robin

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Christof Zwiener, born 1972 in Osnabrück, lives and works in Berlin
. Diploma from the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst, Braunschweig in 2004. Among his solo exhibitions are Berlin — der Traum ist aus…, Grenzwachturm Schlesischer Busch, Berlin 2015; Berlin today, Raum für Zweckfreiheit, Berlin 2012; no bronze, Torreão, Porto Alegre 2009; textum, Kunstverein Langenhagen 2008; starting at zero, Bonner Kunstverein 2006; Haus Schwartekopp und die Werksbahn, Kunstverein Arnsberg 2006; it was because gravity made itself master over me, Kunstverein Ulm 2005 and halbrund oder rund, je nach dem, Kunstverein Ravensburg 2004. In 2015 he participated in Vanitas Extended, Ieper, Belgium, In 2014 in Berlin today Berlin aujourd‘hui Берлин сегодня Berlin heute — III, KAI10, Backdoor Fantasies, Düsseldorf. In 2013 Indizien für eine mögliche Deutsche Geschichte, Kunstverein Zurich and in Zu Gast (3) “East”, Kunstsaele, Berlin. In 2008 in Rendez-vous, MAC Lyon, in Vertrautes Terrain, ZKM Karlsruhe and in Entropie Zuhause, Sammlung Schürmann, Berlin.