ESTHER STOCKER [IT] – on architecture

Esther Stocker’s [b. 1974, Silandro/Schlanders, IT] work has long been concerned with grids—and with disruptions, variations, distortions, and interactions between grid structures. Stocker’s engagement with the theme soon expanded into the third dimension, and her many large-scale works, such as installations, murals in public and private spaces, and art-in-architecture projects, have garnered her a name in the international art world. She has also found favor with the curators of the Setouchi Triennale in Japan: in 2016 for the third time renowned Japanese and international artists from the fields of visual art, architecture, music, and theatre gathered on twelve islands of the Inland Sea Region and in two other locations for a unique Artfestival, as the project describes itself. Participating artists included Pipilotti Rist, Tobias Rehberger, James Turrell, and Christian Boltanski, as well as many Japanese artists—for example the architects Tadao Aando and the SANAA team Kazuyo Sejima/Ryue Nishizawa, in addition to many local dance and music ensembles. Founded with the goal of inspiring the region, which is threatened by a dwindling population, with new energy and thereby making it more attractive, the Triennale has installments in the spring, summer, and autumn of the year in which in takes place; the individual event locations are connected by ferries.

Esther Stocker was invited to create a spatial installation in the disused building of a former kindergarten on the island of Awashima, and also to decorate four stations of the Uno Port Line, one of the train lines that runs from Honshu to Uno Port, with her repeating, recognizable designs.

As the project was still in the planning stage, the idea arose to show this special work at dr. julius | ap in a year-end exhibition that will also highlight the underlying importance of architecture in Esther Stocker’s work. Thus the projects from Japan will be represented in the gallery by photographs of the realized works, and will be shown alongside examples of her painting and sculpture, as well as a site-specific intervention. This combination of works highlights Esther Stocker’s artistic engagement with grids as a three-dimensional phenomenon that becomes particularly visible in architectonic contexts, and shows off the exciting relationship between space and art that is always central to her work.

ESTHER STOCKER
on architecture

Opening Thursday, November 24, 2016, 7–9 pm
Exhibition through February 4, 2017
Thursday–Saturday 3–7 pm and by appointment

dr. julius | ap
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