Über Berge // Susane Bergstaedt • Lis Blunier • Anett Frontzek • Simone Zaugg

Exhibition duration: January 30 to March 1, 2015
Opening: Thursday, January 29, 2015, 7:30 PM

Closing event with artist talk and art lottery drawing:
Sunday, March 1, 2015, 7:30 PM

Curated by Susann Kramer and Dr. Martin Steffens

High mountains, jagged cliffs, massive glaciers – grand and majestic, alluring yet threatening, a magnet for adventurers and summit collectors, a stage for intense moments of joy and terrible tragedies. Mountain landscapes have fascinated humanity throughout history and were particularly popular as artistic subjects in earlier eras. These mountains were often subjected to stylistic idealization, symbolic elevation, or nationalistic glorification, which is why this artistic motif is less frequently explored today. However, the four artists in the exhibition "Über Berge" find new approaches. Their works reflect contemporary artistic engagements far removed from Alpine pathos and grand mountain scenery.

Susane Bergstaedt's works engage with collective and personal symbols. The series "Mehrtausender" is a painterly exploration of the mountain as a multifaceted symbol for significant human experiences, as found in everyday language and media as motifs and expressions.

Lis Blunier addresses the fleeting nature of personal perception amidst the vast diversity and expanse of the mountains in her work "Montagna Magica." She deconstructs the "big picture" of an Alpine panorama and depicts individual, manageable segments. Personal landscapes emerge where real images blend with remembered pictures and impressions.

Anett Frontzek draws on cartographic materials from the Swiss Alps for her paper cuts. From many small map fragments, she creates seemingly real mountain views that reveal themselves as constructed upon closer inspection. In contrast, she presents finely cut line patterns that depict ski routes "wrested" from or leaning against the mountains. Framed within the map's edge, with all its cartographic details, these proposals for ski routes become visible as a human-made construct. A measured, calculated, and mathematically framed mountain world.

Simone Zaugg's installation conjures an imaginary mountain range made of ladders and song. She invites the viewer to climb to new heights and seek an overview. The climbing actions bring to life the song "Luegit vo Bärg u Ta" ("Look from Mountain to Valley") sung by the artist. The contrast between urban space and architecture on one side and a Swiss mountain song on the other begins to dissolve, allowing the different layers to overlap and generate a new place in their mixture.