Esther Shalev-Gerz
Esther Shalev-Gerz
29 Jan – 27 Feb 2016
ESTHER SHALEV-GERZ
January 29th – February 27th, 2016
Social context is one of the fundamental components in Esther Shalev-Gerz’s works be they photographic prints, video installation, sculptural objects or permanent works in public space. In her projects the content and structure of the work are often inspired by the memory and history of a specific site proposing different forms of participation. This exhibition, which is Esther Shalev-Gerz’s first solo gallery exhibition in Scandinavia, is presenting five of her recent series of works spanning a decade between 2000 and 2010.
Still/Film (2009) consists of photographs and a video work derived from a trip between Vilnius where she grew up and lived with her family until the age of eight and Alytus where her mother was born. In this project the artist uses cameras and lenses from the period of her mother’s childhood and the work is structured as a search for her mother’s house, a building which may no longer exist. The photographic series investigates the relations and distinctions between identity, place and recollection.
The Open Page (2009) are pictures of rare books from the Vancouver Public Library, selected by the staff according to their own individual criteria. Each book is photographed as double-page opening on a 1:1 scale so that the physical and tactile qualities are retained using a very large format camera. They depict a range of surprising and stunning combinations of words and images or knowledge and aesthetics throughout more than five centuries.
The Last Click (2010) are pictures shot at the Rollei factories in Brunswick, Germany of half empty rooms and archives of spare parts for old cameras. In all of the pictures, an old Rollei camera mounted on a tripod acts as a protagonist. The absence of people in the factory is made ambiguous by the almost anthropomorphic presence of the camera.
The exhibition also include works from the series Echoes in Memory (2007) and Inseparable Angels: An Imaginary House for Walter Benjamin (2000).
This exhibition is realized in collaboration with Jill Silverman van Coenegrachts, jsvcPROJECTS / london.
Esther Shalev-Gerz lives and works in Paris. Since 2003 she has been professor at Valand’s Art School in Gothenburg. Her solo museum exhibitions include The Open Page at Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver (2009); Ton image me regarde!? at Jeu de Paume, Paris (2010); The Last Click at Museum für Photographie, Brunswick (2010); Entre l’écoute et la parole at Musée cantonal des beaux-arts de Lausanne, Lausanne (2012); and Describing Labor at The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami Beach (2013). Projects in public space include Monument Against Fascism (1986) in Hamburg-Harburg; The Dispersal of the Seeds / the Collection of the Ashes (1995-97) in Geneva and Marl, Germany; First Generation (2004) at the Multicultural Center, Botkyrka; A Thread (2003-2006) at Castlemilk Park, Glasgow; and Les Inséparables (2000-2008) at Wanås Konst.