Press_Teresa Margolles - Kunsthalle Fridericianum

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KUNSTHALLE
FRIDERICIANUM
Friedrichsplatz 18
D-34117 Kassel
www.fridericianum-kassel.de
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4 December 2010 – 20 February 2011
TERESA MARGOLLES
Frontera
Under the title Frontera, Margolles is presenting works which reflect the frightening extent to which the drug war is influencing
Mexican society, they also engage with the general taboo on death
and violence. Using reduced but always drastic means, Teresa
Margolles creates extremely poignant works of art. At first glance,
her works often seem to be minimalist in their form. Viewers only
discover that they are deeply emotional and dramatic when they become aware of the rigorous realism in the choice of material.
The large painterly exterior work Frontera on the outer façade of
the Fridericianum envelops the entire building. 40 lengths of cloth
dipped in soil and bodily fluids will make the Fridericianum ‘bleed’
when subjected to weather influences. Margolles uses substances such
as blood, body fat or even water used to wash dead corpses not only
symbolically, but also palpably, attacking human beings’ fears of
contact in a subtle way. Margolles confronts visitors directly with
death by having water used for washing corpses taken from a Mexican
autopsy room drip on to a hot steel plate in the exhibition space,
thus making death perceptible both olfactorily and atmospherically.
In addition, she is putting up two walls in the Kassel exhibition
which she has had removed from Mexican cities and replaced with new
walls. The man-high concrete-block walls are witnesses of daily
violence: they display bullet holes resulting from shoot-outs that
have had a lasting impact on cities such as Ciudad Juárez, where the
drug war is raging with particular vehemence.
Margolles also shows relics of victims of criminal violence, presenting glass display cabinets with jewellery of shot police officers, government officials, passers-by and tourists. While the
golden watches, earrings, chains and bracelets are draped as though
on display in a jewellery store, as vanitas symbols the valuables
directly refer to the sudden, unexpected deaths of these people.
For another sculptural work she bought structural steel scrap from
razed neighbourhoods on the black market and melted the material
into a minimalist cube. Weighing one tonne, this cube is a maximally
compressed symbol of suffering and decay in Mexico.
In her filmic work, she documents places with no future in a disturbing way; a poor quarter in the north of Mexico as well as three
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KUNSTHALLE FRIDERICIANUM
boys vying for attention from the camera. In two videos, Margolles
shows performances at schoolyards in Guadalajara and Ciudad Juárez,
drawing attention to the absence of the many young people murdered
in a single month. These new video works add the theme of hopelessness in Mexican towns bordering the USA to the exhibition.
Frontera is realised in collaboration with Museion, Bolzano and will
be on view from 27 May to 21 August 2011 at the Museion.
BIO TERESA MARGOLLES
Teresa Margolles was born in Culiacan, Mexico in 1963. After she
studied art and communication sciences at Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México, she additionally got her diploma in forensic
medicine at the National University of Mexico City. She lives and
works in Mexico City.
Among her most recent solo exhibitions are What Else Could We Talk
About? at the Mexican pavilion during the 53rd Venice Biennale and
Los Herederos at Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich (both in 2009);
En Lugar de los Hechos – Anstelle der Tatsachen, Kunsthalle Krems
(2008), 127 cuerpos, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen,
Dusseldorf (2006), Caída Libre/Chute libre, Frac de Lorraine, Metz
(2005), Muerte sin fin, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main
(2004) as well as The Shroud, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2003).
Teresa Margolles participated in a variety of group exhibitions such
as Une Idée, une Forme, un Être - Poésie/Politique du corporel,
Migros Museum, Zurich (2010), Don't stare at the sun, Centre of
Contemporary Art, Torun and Man Son 1969. Vom Schrecken der
Situation, Kunsthalle Hamburg (both 2009); Political/Minimal,
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2008), Viva la Muerte!,
Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna ( 2007), as well as Six Feet Under,
Kunstmuseum Bern (2006) and Made in Mexico, UCLA Hammer Museum,
Los Angeles, and Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (both 2004).
Her works were also shown at several international biennials for
contemporary art, such as the the Manifesta 7, Bolzano (2008), the
Liverpool Biennial (2006), the Prague Biennale (2005 and 2003) and
the Gwangju Biennale (2004).
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COPYRIGHT
Please use following copyright details for the downloaded photo
material.
Datei 1
Teresa Margolles, Frontera, 2010
Installation view Kunsthalle Fridericianum
Courtesy: the artist. Photo: Nils Klinger.
Datei 2
Teresa Margolles, Muro Ciudad Juárez, 2009
Installation view Kunsthalle Fridericianum
Courtesy: FRAC Nord - Pas de Calais, Dunkerque, and Galerie Peter
Kilchmann, Zurich. Photo: Nils Klinger.
Datei 3
Teresa Margolles, Plancha, 2010
Installation view Kunsthalle Fridericianum
Courtesy: the artist. Photo: Nils Klinger.
Datei 4
Teresa Margolles, Corporización de la ausencia, 2010
Installation view Kunsthalle Fridericianum
Courtesy: the artist, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich and
LABOR, Mexico City. Photo: Nils Klinger.
Datei 5
Teresa Margolles, Frontera, 2010
Installation view with Muro Ciudad Juárez, 2009 and
Ya Basta Hijos de Puta, 2010.
Courtesy: the artist, FRAC Nord - Pas de Calais, Dunkerque, and
Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich. Photo: Nils Klinger.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.
Friederike Siebert
E [email protected]
T +49 561 707 27 86
www.fridericianum-kassel.de
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