kestnergesellschaft presents Rachel Harrison: Fake Titel an exhibition on view through 4 August 2013.
Considered one of the most influential sculptors of her generation, Harrison simultaneously undermines and reaffirms multiple layers of sculptural histories, employing slapstick humor and a sense of tragicomedy.
The exhibition presents a selection from three distinct bodies of work. This includes sculptures and drawings from Harrison’s exhibition The Help (2012), the architecturally scaled installation Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (2011) and the suite of photographs titled Sunset Series (2000–2012).
The sculptures and drawings from The Help examine the entagled roles of the artist, the muse, and the help. The title comes from the photograph taken by the artist of the maintenance door to Duchamp’s final work Étant Donnés. Harrison combines found objects, often of a banal or domestic nature, with abstract forms. Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, a mixed-media installation including a wall of pedestals, autonomous sculptures, and video, raises a number of anthropological and political questions. Aside from references to the work of Marcel Broodthaers, as well as Mesoamerican ballcourts, the expansive installation also reflects on larger issues of cultural identity and ownership. The Sunset Series, presented in its entirety for the first time, comprises thirty-one photographs of a single source image, a photograph of a sunset. In each photograph in the series, shot on 35mm film, the artist physically manipulates the found snapshot to create a new image.
The exhibition at the kestnergesellschaft is a cooperation with the S.M.A.K. in Gent, where it will be shown subsequently.
The show is accompanied by a catalogue designed by Surface with texts by Diedrich Diederichsen, Susanne Figner, Martin Germann, Alex Kitnick, Veit Görner and Philippe Van Cauteren.
kestnergesellschaft
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