[spectre] Kunsthalle Fribourg, Fri-Art

[geert]

From: Sarah Zürcher / Fri-Art <sarah.zuercher at bluewin.ch>

Centre d'Art Contemporain, FRI-ART KUNSTHALLE FRIBOURG (CH)

SHIFTING WORLDS

Teresa Chen | Zineb Sedira | Janaina Tschäpe
 
Exposition du 5 février au 10 avril 2005

Vernissage le 4 février 2005 dE 19 - 24 heures
Conférence/ discussion avec Simon Njami, le mardi 15 mars à 19h30 à
Fri-Art

Press Release

Three artists with varied and mixed cultural backgrounds attempt to
answer these questions. Teresa Chen (Chinese-American), Zineb Sedira
(French and Algerian) and Janaina Tschäpe (Brazilian and German) offer
us their contrasting and discerning personal experiences. Their work
lifts the veil on terms such as multiculturalism, globalization or
internationalism. Combining the infinite wealth of hybrid cultures,
their stories spin yarns that pass easily from identity and difference,
absence to presence, femininity to masculinity, past to future,
knowledge to ignorance.

Multiplying perspectives as in a kaleidoscope, Shifting Worlds
highlights the work of three women who transfer their viewpoint to that
of others, transforming it and metamorphosing our vision of the world.
One by one, they redesign political or geographic landscapes with a
degree of tenderness and intimacy that is nothing if not universal.

On the ground floor of Fri-Art, Zineb Sedira questions our identity and
otherness. Born of post colonialism, Damascene (2001-2005) introduces us
to the l'autre face de l'histoire: une histoire racontée avec des
différences (the other side of the story: a story told with
differences). Against a gold background, these words are featured on
oriental wall paper. They express the word and the tongue that are the
very essence of Zineb Sediras work. The exhibition continues with Mother
Tongue (2002), a triptych that recounts the relationship between three
generations (mother, daughter, granddaughter) in three languages
(Arabian, French, English). Mother, Father,

and I (2003) is the story of the Algerian War and exile in France as
told by the artists parents. In the last room, black ink and words
dissolve in limpid water. This is Dont do to her what you did to me
(1998/2001), the tale of a talisman, a feminine figure interprets a
verse of the Quran. 

On the first floor, the feminine body is again the focus, seemingly
defying weightlessness. Water is the recurring theme perhaps it
signifies reconciliation.

Janaina Tschäpe takes us into a universe in full metamorphosis. In
Camaleoas (2002), the chameleons symbolize the destinies of four women
whose discourse is vital but contradictory (Fatima Sol personifies the
sun, a star; Jani Executiva incarnates executive combat; Cristal Planta
searches her roots in order to claim her liberty; Claudia the Robot
begins to dream). Coming from a favela in the north of Rio, these
heroines defy our imagination, revealing means of surpassing themselves,
of transcending the feminine condition. Their stories become myth
although they are just fragments of truncated, poignantly intense lives.
In After the Rain (2003), nymph and nature are great reservoirs made up
of membranes, containing the past, but also the future

Teresa Chens photographs often represent parts of her. The Atmospheres
series (1996), Undeterminate Body (1997) or here Emerging II
(2000-2001), revisit her body like a territory that she passes through,
trying to establish new boundaries. Between the figurative and the
abstract, between the narrative and the silent, between what is and what
is not, we are invited to a closer examination of this indeterminate
identity, this tested femininity. Whether we like it or not, her new
series entitled Gorgeous (2004) comes as a surprise. Passing from
fragments of the body to water that is opalescent and murky, she casts
us into a semblance of blood. This fragile femininity is sorely tried.
Like her sensual and profoundly human nature (bloodied water) the
macroscopic photographs of iridescent flowers evoke concrete objects.
Projecting both attraction and aversion, sensuality and repulsion,
Teresa Chen stages the drama of our human condition, of our differences.

At the borderline between cultures and identities, Shifting Worlds
reproduces the tradition of transmission. The speculum the mirror of the
other brings us to decipher a social state in a personal manner, opening
new perspectives on relationships. These stories, both personal and
universal, intensify meetings and cultural exchange. They also give
meaning to the interface between experiences of oneself and of others,
and initiate us to the infinity of otherness.  

(Translated from the French by Zosia Rozankowska, January 2005)

With the support of the Coriolis Promotion, the State of Fribourg
(DICS), the Loterie Romande, the Federal Office of Culture, the
Foundation Nestlé and British Council

             Fri-Art 22 petites-Rames - CH - 1700 Fribourg

Heures douverture : Ma-ven 14-18h, sa -di 14-17 h Nocturne je 18-20 h

Tél. +41 26 323 23 51
Fax +41 26 323 15 34
E-Mail : info at fri-art.ch
WWW.FRI-ART.CH