What's the Matter ?
Matter surrounds us in many different forms, and its existence and our perception of it affect our understanding of reality. It’s no coincidence that materialist philosophical treatises have always been the subject of debate. Thanks to the confluence of human creativity and science, man has become the only living being on this earth capable of creating structurally durable substances that cannot decompose at all, or only partially, and thus escape the natural mechanisms of the material cycle.
The group show by Silvia BAUER (Belgium-Austria), CSATLÓS Asztrid (Hungary) and Regina ZACHHALMEL (Austria) presents three examples of contemporary artistic strategies that explore the possibilities of reusing and restoring material integrity. They deal with the natural or unnatural character of the material in different ways, taking it out of its immediate environment. In their artistic practice, they re-evaluate the functions of textiles, plastics and discarded waste. Through attention and collaboration, they recontextualize the material’s physical structure and properties, and link it to a higher, spiritual substance. Old functions and symbolisms are replaced by contemporary artistic interpretations that seek a way out of material depreciation, overproduction and the crisis of sustainability.
Silvia BAUER breathes new life into objects and materials discarded by consumer society. Cardboard, broken porcelain and hoops – everyday materials that come directly from our consumer world – take on a sculptural value in her hands and become meaningful once again. Through artistic treatment, the materials and objects of dialogue take on new meaning and offer the public different experiences.
CSATLÓS Asztrid deals with the relationship between contemporary art and science. Based on scientific observations, she depicts natural and human phenomena, anatomical elements and processes, and symbols of mysticism in her works. Through specific sign systems, she creates an associative and reductive world of motifs. With recurring and repetitive forms, she emphasizes the link between past and future.
Materiality also plays an important role in Regina ZACHHALMEL‘s artistic practice. She works conceptually with traditional artistic genres such as drawing, painting and printmaking. In her work, she draws on perceptions of everyday and visual culture, and renegotiates the central categories of artistic creation such as motif, materiality, formal process, value, appearance and interpretation.
The title of the exhibition What’s the Matter? – reflects on the relationship between the loss of value and the creation of value, embraces the problem of overproduction in the world of consumerism, and at the same time addresses the emergence of material engagement in contemporary art practice, elevating it to a new meta-level. The works exhibited by the participating artists translate the reality of everyday objects as we perceive them into a new form, offer a different perspective and explore notions of reuse and repurposing.
Curator: Renata Bartha
About my art
My contemporary sculpture is no longer limited to the use of traditional materials such as earth, stone, wood or bronze. The artist of today must perceive the world around him and listen to his inner voice. After stays in Vienna, Munich and the USA, I live and work in Brussels, where I obtained my diploma in sculpture in 2005.
Our throwaway society has inspired me to make my artworks from unusual materials, such as cardboard. It is a material that inspires me enormously, not only because of its initial banality (a flat cardboard box without any interest becomes three-dimensional), but also because of its relevance in today’s consumer world; everything is packed with cardboard, cardboard that is then thrown away and destroyed. What fascinates me is the metamorphosis of the material and the creation of strong new forms. By modelling in my own way, exploring the cardboard, working on the different internal structures and colours, I highlight the hidden facets of the material.The material is revealed, acquires sculptural value and a certain magic is created.
Always with the same spirit, I also attack the substance of materials left behind at the roadside: tire fragments. In dialogue with cardboards, these provide forms that refer only to themselves and imply no knowledge.They inhabit a space that they further shape by mutating their texture. The cardboard box and the tires that open its interior invite us to focus our gaze and attention on what does not normally offer interest. In my studio, I process corrugated cardboard, tire fragments and many other industrial residues. In this way, this smoothed, polished and reassembled waste is given a new state, a new legitimacy. I try to bring an unexpected vitality out of the banality of everyday life that messes up our perception of the ordinary.
Reclaiming the useless, transforming it, elevating it, a call to our inner life to do the same. It is not the initial value of the material that makes it noble, but the way it is processed.
My tried and tested technique leads to wresting amazing power and sensuality from this banal basic material, chaos becomes beauty.
Silvia Bauer
