Anna Fasshauer - "Auf links"
My works in this exhibition came about in a way that I find well described by composers.
They are, for example, “in the process of becoming,” in the words of Wolfgang Rihm. Or, as Eggebrecht puts it, they are “happening.” Initially, I only had in mind to create something with a specific material that is not typically used, pushing this creation to the point where what emerges from the material gains its own validity.
Lexicon:
- on the inside, on the left side, on the back side, on the underside, the Other
- to turn someone inside out (colloquial; to thoroughly examine or interrogate someone)
Left is, in general, the space for all artists.
I do not mean politically left, but simply the other perspective, the opposite, the invisible, etc. The best way to approach the topic is to look for further uses of the words left and right in our language. It becomes apparent that something is lawful, one can be right, someone has their heart in the right place, lawyers represent us in court, we live in a rule of law, and we learn spelling in elementary school and hear about right angles in math class. In contrast, a sneaky person is clumsy or left-handed, and incompetent people are said to have two left hands. The word right seems to consistently represent the good, true, and correct, while left stands for the false and dishonorable.
This works wonderfully in our neighboring countries as well. Right in English means both right and “the law,” one can be right (to be right), and all right means that everything is in order. The same is true in French (a droit = right, le droit = the law) and in Spanish (derecho = right, el derecho = the law). The French term gauche (left), however, means both clumsy in English and French, as well as sneaky.
Even the Romans evaluated the two sides differently – at that time, the left side was initially considered to bring good fortune. It was only later that the Greeks' view took hold, associating the right side with the positive and the left with the negative. This division can be found in many places. In Christian painting, for example, the good are always seated on the right side of the Holy Spirit, while sinners sit on the left. And even though this has changed over time: traditionally, in wedding photos, the woman stood to the right of the man – on his good side or as his “good side.”
For her sculptures and installations, Anna Fasshauer uses a variety of different materials, which she combines and shapes into surprising constellations. Anna Fasshauer is interested in the interplay of forms that are usually kept apart.
The visual syntheses in Fasshauer's artistically abstract compositions reveal hidden connections and relationships in forms and materials. Dominant concepts of duality and dichotomy are thus called into question, opening the gaze for a productive engagement with the phenomena of dissonance and heterogeneity.