ATELIER VAN LIESHOUT
TEMPEL
Opening: 7. March 2014, 19h
Exhibition Duration: 8. March 2014 – 4. April 2014
With the exhibition “Tempel” Galerie Krinzinger will be showing not just the new series of works “New Tribal Labyrinth” by AVL, but also a selected group of bronze sculptures known as the “Funnelheads“.
Joep van Lieshout (born1963) has created a highly complex, consistent piece of work with elements stemming from various systems of reference outside of art. Living and work spaces as well as habitats are ever-recurring themes of his artistic production. The focus on social utopia and alternative models of life can be traced throughout the work of Atelier van Lieshout. While the focus of the production of AVL could initially be found in the motif of freedom, the most radical implementation of which was the declaration of a free state – the “AVL Ville” – in 2001 in the port of Rotterdam, an intense exploration of restrictive systems has followed in subsequent years.
The new series of works with the title “New Tribal Labyrinth” has less to do with restrictive systems than with the positive representation of a possible alternative (one that AVL sees as being urgently needed) to our currently existing social model. The series reflects on our complex society in which inordinate consumption meets with limited resources. The Atelier van Lieshout suggests an alternative world order in which imaginary tribes constitute a new society, thus facilitating a return to a simple, self-sufficient style of life.
The imaginary tribes address both the activities of rural life as of industrial production. The relationship to the existing resources plays an important role and rituals should also be assessed anew so that they once again assume greater meaning. Thus the objects embodying the ideas of the “New Tribal Labyrinth” can be divided into three categories: farming – industry and ritual. The “Cow of the Future“ (2014) marks the beginning of the exhibition – a cow that has been reduced to what is most essential: only the organs needed to produce milk remain. The four monumental sculptures of the large room – “Drill“, (2014), “Drill Press” (2014), “Food Reactor“ (2013) and “Animalistic Constructivist” (2013) — all refer to industrial production.
With this new group of works Atelier Van Lieshout is once again embarking upon the adventure of creating a new gesamtkunstwerk, a total artwork.
Bettina Busse
Seilerstätte 16, 1010 Wien, Austria
info@galerie-krinzinger.at
+43 1 5133006