chronological | Artists |

Carl Andre

Die Leere umschlossen von den Quadraten aus 3,4,5

27.4. – 6.7.1997
European epistemological history, in a way that seem light-handed at first glance, being nearly two-dimensional in a volume that is brimming with absence and memory. Then again, the almost sketch-like positioning of the tiles is qualified by the enormous weight of the iron with its unfinished industrial surface structure.

Once inside the interior of the former synagogue, any work of art, or indeed any given object basically, enters almost inevitably into dialogue with the historic significance of this building. The objects undergo a metamorphosis that always inclines toward gravity. This is one of the specific requirements this place imposes on the artist, whose work must be capable of parrying its historic and emotional weight without letting this gravitation bent the work toward banality and pathos.

Andre’s works, which operate specifically with the particular weight of iron as a material, and simultaneously project the lightness of a mental figure devoid of subjectivity, devoid of any obvious statement, devoid of any empathy, into the room, thus steer clear of all that might be too weighty, the excess weight of reflex-like shock and memory. The meta-texts and cultural contexts of any object that is purposefully positioned in the synagogue of Stommeln translate inevitably into a form of statement – sometimes respectful, sometimes provocative. What sort of statement does the Pythagorean theorem inspire in this place, being a formulation of a universal law that retains its validity beyond ideology, ethnicity, religious creed, personal disposition or other sentiment?

Andre finds an un-banal balance in a location that – while having been an art venue for a number of years – signifies to what extent things have gotten out of balance. Balance connotes a state of tranquillity, of equilibrium, but balance also implies fickle- ness, and in the asymmetry, the tension, of the work at hand, it does precisely that.


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Diashow (3 Pictures)

Synagogue Stommeln, Carl Andre, Exhibition View

Exhibition View

Synagogue Stommeln, Carl Andre, Exhibition View

Exhibition View