Lois Weinberger — Ruderal Society — Salle Principale — la galerie — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: September 19 → November 14, 2021

72 springs — A tribute to Lois Weinberger

How, then, can a simple exhibition, in a modest gallery, pay tribute to such contained complexity? From Lois Weinberger’s countless projects, the gallery has chosen his favourite “domain”: the exterior of his studio in the Vienna suburbs, which he called the « Ruderal Society ». Lois cleared this area—outside a former mirror factory—to give nature the opportunity to express itself freely, adding plants of his own to these natural incursions. Some were rare species; all belonged to the family of unloved plants typical of areas that are neglected, forgotten or spurned—a subtle, elegant evocation of exiles in search of new roots. Such plants often grow on ruins, and are thus dubbed “ruderal” (from the Latin word rudus: ruin). We all come across them, in town and in the countryside, growing on waste ground or under trees, peeping from cracks in the road, lining the edges of paths… They are so unexceptional that we hardly even notice them. Could this be because of their size? Their lack of flamboyancy? Their less than attractive surroundings? Their traditionally discriminatory names? And yet how amazing it is to watch a humble dandelion as its flower turns into a feathery cannonball of seeds! Is this not a demonstration of intelligence, of painstaking ingeniousness, of wondrous beauty?

Dominique Mathieu, march 2021 (extract)

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