What traces can be found in the material world? What do they reveal? And how can they be discovered?
“Leaving Traces: Telling Stories Through Materiality” presents nine artists who view materials as vehicles for messages. By removing materials from their usual contexts, they reveal the relationship these materials have with people and the social structures they reflect. The artists turn their attention to the inconspicuous yet significant, making hidden traces visible and revealing what shapes our lived environments. Their jewellery represents values, origins or voices criticism. The materials they use repeatedly raise questions about hierarchies and political conditions. Costume jewellery is not merely an affordable accessory, but tells the story of how jewellery became accessible to broad sections of the population. Electronic waste is not merely industrial rubbish, but prompts us to reflect on consumption, resources and transience. Barbie horses evoke childhood memories and bear witness to gender-specific marketing, the effects of which we all feel.
Every material bears traces of history, the meanings of which are subject to historical, cultural or economic change and are liable to shift.
The works on display open up spaces for reflection in which we can see how we leave our mark and, at the same time, are shaped by it.
Artists featured in the exhibition:
Nadine Anklam, Conversation Piece (Beatrice Brovia & Nicolas Cheng), Corrina Goutos, Mari Iwamoto, Suska Mackert, Yumiko Matsunaga, Chequita Nahar und Petra Zimmermann.