Karsten Födinger — Cantilever — Palais de Tokyo — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: February 18 → March 27, 2011

The ghostly artworks of Karsten Födinger sneak into a space in order to disturb it. The discrete nature of the works — shards of plaster and bits of concrete forgotten on the floor — conveys a subtle analysis of the space all the while instilling an eerie feeling, as if it was left unfinished.

The artist doesn’t only intervene in interiors: his monumental constructions call into question the entire structure of a building by creating tension between the forms. Following the example of Richard Serra, he studies the interplay of energy and balance in the surrounding spaces and transposes them into a rough, unutterable language that engages with the spectator’s perception.

Karsten Födinger’s choice of simple, refined lines puts to the test forms, which were born as much from modernism as from the aesthetics of construction sites and public works. His mastery of materials, on a small as well as a large scale, bespeaks the maturity of this young German artist, who has never before shown in France. His presence in the alcove — with an installation imagined with the institution’s space and history in mind — gives him the opportunity to make light of both the architecture of the Palais de Tokyo and the fact that it is undergoing renovations in 2011.