Sprüth Magers Berlin is pleased to present Haus, a solo exhibition by Fischli-Weiss, the Swiss artist duo known for their films including "Der Geringste Widerstand" (The Least Resistance) and ambiguous sculptural everyday objects.
At the core of this new exhibition is "Haus (House)," a work Peter Fischli and David Weiss first developed for Skulptur Projekte Münster in 1987 and subsequently shown in exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum, New York and Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2016). An aluminum version of the work was permanently installed in Zurich last year. This exhibition focuses on the architectural reference system at the heart of the artists’ work with a selection of sculptures and archival material.
Haus was preceded by a model-like sculpture with the same form that took aspects of the sketch and model as its subject matter. The artists continued to develop their interest in everyday architecture and brought the sculpture back to the public sphere for Münster. Nestled in an unpretentious area far from the usual tourist attractions, passersby heading to work identified it as artwork through its 1:5 scale. The miniaturized building reflected its immediate surroundings and the functional architectures and activities typical to this public place including work, infrastructure, and productivity. Its generic character derives from the late modernist architectural form and the resulting aura of the everyday. The version of Haus in the Berlin exhibition is the wooden mold used for the aluminum casting of the outdoor sculpture in Zurich, consequently combining the model character of the sculpture with the idea of monumentality. The building represents the last moment of modernism, where utopian-positivist ideas drifted into the pragmatic and ultimately the commonplace. This strangely melancholic moment is compacted in this replica office complex’s unusual scale, which is simultaneously too large for a model and too small for a building.
Radio (2010) continuously transmits a sound collage of snippets of broadcasts on everyday topics such as mobile phone contracts, news, sports and advice on modern life.
These works are accompanied by sculptures made of black rubber and unfired clay which explore the instability of concepts and address aspects of living: a residential area made of unfired clay, a material which radiates both transience and fragility and questions its own assertion, or a candle made of black rubber - an object that provides atmosphere and cosiness in everyday life. Further sculptures including the small corner (2012), brick (2005), or wall (1986) either draw tangible reference to architecture or, as with the seat cushion (1987) and slab (1988), embody more abstract aspects of the interior or everyday domestic living.
Finally, archival material related to the Haus complex of works, summarised in the recently produced artist’s book on the same, offers a comprehensive insight into this specific aspect of Fischli-Weiss’s œuvre.
"Haus" will be featuring at Sprüth Magers from April 27 to July 27, 2019.
