CARAVAN 1/2015: Bertold Stallmach (with Fischer & el Sani)

Media Release
Aarau in January 2015
CARAVAN 1/2015: Bertold Stallmach
(with Fischer & el Sani)
Series of Exhibitions of Young Art
24 January – 12 April 2015
Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
Based in Berlin and Zürich, the artist Bertold Stallmach (b. 1984)
is creating new work for his CARAVAN presentation at the Aargauer
Kunsthaus titled Dreisatz der Identität (Identity’s Rule of Three).
In his three-part video piece he questions the various aspects of
human and societal identity with a profound sense of humour and
light-footed irony.
In his video works, objects, installations, and drawings Bertold Stallmach
reflects on the conditions of human existence and the relationships that
create individual identities. In Aarau the artist explores the various
aspects of human identity in three wall-projected animated films. Based on
the rule-of-three concept in mathematics, he examines the relation between
man and society. The work Dreisatz der Identität is based on a
collaboration with the Berlin-based artist duo Nina Fischer and Maroan el
Sani.
In the video Die Identität einer Gesellschaft we follow two characters, Iso
and Jenga, as they travel through nameless wasteland. With a fine sense of
humour and irony, Stallmach manages to intertwine the trip to selfdiscovery of two dropouts in a fictitious desert with the reality of four
refugees who meet again at an abandoned construction site in the midst of a
large city. The film’s narrative structure is punctuated with theory-based
reflections on systemic power relations. A sand hill serves as a
surprisingly reduced yet memorable metaphor for this. How does a society
define itself? How is it structured and what are its values?
Bertold Stallmach accompanies these reflections with two short films which
he also produced using stop-motion animation: Die Identität eines
Individuums and Die Identität einer künstlerischen Arbeitsweise. In the
first he applies a psychological study to animated clay figures. Using
home-made figures and sets, he develops an artistic vocabulary and creates
strange parallel worlds.
The CARAVAN exhibition Dreisatz der Identität is based on research and
interviews Bertold Stallmach has conducted with Nina Fischer and Maroan el
Sani. On the lower floor of the Aargauer Kunsthaus Stallmach incorporates
the artist couple’s sculpture Concrete Castle (2014), which also serves as
a backdrop for the video piece Die Identität einer Gesellschaft.
Bertold Stallmach, born in Quthing, Lesotho, in 1984, lives and works in
Zürich and Berlin. Studied visual arts from 2004 to 2008 at the Zürich
Hochschule der Künste and at Future University in Hakodate, Japan.
Selected solo exhibitions to date: Der Ziele sind gar viele, Kunsthaus
Langenthal (2014); Der resignierte Beobachter, Cruise & Callas, Berlin
(2013); Die Reise einer Meinung, Galerie Susanna Kulli, Zürich (2012);
Gefahren der Liebe, Kunstraum Foth, Freiburg, Germany (2012); Giraffe
Superbrain, Jerome Zodo Contemporary, Mailand (2011); Jon Etter, Andreas
Helbling, Bertold Stallmach, Dienstgebäude, Zürich (2009)
Selected group exhibitions to date: 30 IX Junge Schweizer Kunst 2013, Le
Commun, Bâtiment d’art contemporain, Genf (2013); Behaglich ist anderswo,
Kunst(Zeug)haus, Rapperswil (2013); Snag Performance Tage, Villa Merkel,
Esslingen (2013); Swiss Art Awards, Messehalle Basel (2013/2010/2009);
Discours générale, Alpineum Produzentengalerie, Lucerne (2012); Springende
Lachse,
Kunst(Zeug)haus,
Rapperswil
(2012);
Catch
of
the
year,
Dienstgebäude, Zürich (2012/2010); about painting, Sihlquai55, Zürich
(2011); Ich Tier! (Du Mensch), Perla Mode, Zürich (2010); Jungkunst, City
Halle, Winterthur (2010); Diplomausstellung, Güterbahnhof, Zürich (2008);
Konkret werden. Der springende Punkt, Kunstraum Winterthur (2008); 20 Jahre
Bildende Kunst, Kunsthalle Zürich (2005)
Selected awards and grants: Swiss Art Award (2013); Kiefer Hablitzel Prize
(2013); work grant of the Canton of Zürich (2010); work grant of the Ernst
Göhner Foundation (2010); project grant, Migros Kulturprozent (2008)
Nina Fischer (b.1965, Emden/D) and Maroan el Sani (b.1966, Duisburg/ D)
collaborating since 1993, work and live in Berlin.
More information under www.fischerelsani.net
Curator
Katrin Weilenmann, Assistant Curator, Aargauer Kunsthaus
Preview for the Media
Thursday, 22 January 2015, 10 am
Welcome address by Madeleine Schuppli, Director, Aargauer Kunsthaus,
introduction by Katrin Weilenmann, Assistant Curator.
The artist Bertold Stallmach will be present.
Exhibition Opening
Friday, 23 January 2015, 6 pm
6.15 pm Welcome address by Madeleine Schuppli, Director, Aargauer
Kunsthaus; introduction by Katrin Weilenmann, Assistant Curator, Aargauer
Kunsthaus
Artist’s Talk
Thursday, 26 February 2015, 6.30 pm
Bertold Stallmach in conversation with Raffael Dörig, Director of Kunsthaus
Langenthal, and Katrin Weilenmann, Assistant Curator, Aargauer Kunsthaus.
Opening Hours
Tuesday – Sunday 10 am to 5 pm, Thursday 10 am to 8 pm
Holiday Opening Hours
Open from 10 am until 5 pm: Holy Thursday 2 Apr.; Good Friday 3 Apr.; Holy
Saturday 4 Apr.; Easter Sunday 5 Apr.; and Easter Monday 6 Apr. 2015
Images for the media
Images are available for downloading on our website
www.aargauerkunsthaus.ch> Media. Please consider the copyright.
For additional information please contact
Katrin Weilenmann, Assistant Curator
tel. +41 (0)62 835 49 72, email: katrin.weilenmann@ag.ch
Filomena Colecchia, Communications
tel. +41 (0)62 835 23 34, email: filomena.colecchia@ag.ch