Verging on magic, The Gravity of Things is a group exhibition that revolves around paradoxes of materiality and immateriality, volume and emptiness, heaviness and lightness, as well as the apparent insignificance and potential importance of the slightest of gestures.
This show seeks to upset, in every sense of the word, the laws of gravity by contravening what one normally expects of it. Here the heavy floats, the immaterial assumes a kind of materiality, both volume and emptiness are made to co-exist and more.
Sara Barker's Nature - Builder (2012), which is a complex, multi-part sculpture that is both on a plinth and leans against the wall, comes off as a wonky geometrical flourish, occupying space as much as it improbably inscribes and contains its emptiness. Meanwhile, Mandla Reuter's The Agreement (2011), consisting of a large wooden armoire floating in the center of the space, enjoys two distinct existences, both as object and image. Viola Yeşiltaç's photographic mise en scène, Untitled (I really must congratulate you on your attention to detail) (2012), of colored sheets of paper read as liminal sculptures, their fleetingly fixed contours delicately suspended between materiality and immateriality. And Fernando Ortega's photographic diptych, Shortcut I & II (2010), which portrays what could be considered a sculptural intervention, depicts an ant traversing a clothing pin connecting two leaves on a tree. In keeping with the general lightness and ethereal nature of the rest of the exhibition, this slight gesture is nevertheless liable to have prodigious consequences (one thinks inevitably of the butterfly effect), or even none at all….save for that of helping an ant get more quickly to his destination, without his even knowing it. All as if the gravity of things were an ultimately incalculable and perfectly inscrutable affair.
Sara Barker born in 1980, in Manchester, United Kingdom. Lives and works in Glasgow. Selected solo exhibitions include Mary Mary Gallery, United Kingdom (2013, 2012, 2010); and Stuart Shave/ Modern Art, United Kingdom (2012). Selected group exhibitions include Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum fur Gegenwart, Germany (2013); Saatchi Gallery, United Kingdom (2013); David Roberts Art Foundation, United Kingdom (2012); Tate Liverpool, United Kingdom (2012); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark (2012); Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany (2011).
Mandla Reuter born in 1975, in Nqutu, South Africa. Lives and works in Basel, Switzerland and Berlin, Germany. Selected solos include Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2013); Galleria Francesca Minini, Italy (2013, 2010); Croy Nielsen, Germany (2013, 2010); De Vleeshal, The Netherlands (2011); Mezzanin, Austria (2011, 2009); and Schinkelpavillion, Germany (2010). Selected group exhibitions include Sorø Kunstmuseum, Denmark (2013); Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2013); Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany (2012); Kunst Werke, Germany (2011); Skulpturenpark, Germany (2011); and Kunsthalle Mulhouse, France (2010).
Viola Yeşiltaç born in Hanover, Germany. Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Selected solo exhibitions include Cooper Gallery, United Kingdom (2012); and Balice, Hertling & Lewis, New York, USA (2012). Selected group exhibitions include Campoli Presti, France (2013); São Paulo Biennial, Brazil (2012); Thomas Duncan Gallery, USA (2012); Catherine Bastide Gallery, Belgium (2012); Emily Harvey Foundation, USA (2012); Sculpture Center, USA (2010); and Museum Folkwang Essen, Germany (2010).
Fernando Ortega born in 1971, in Mexico, where he lives and works. Selected solo exhibitions include Kurimanzutto, Mexico (2013); Palais de Tokyo, France (2012); MUCA CU, México (2008); and Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, México (2008). Selected group exhibitions include Miami Art Museum, USA (2011); Malmö konstmuseum, Sweden (2008); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA (2007); Istanbul Modern, Turkey (2007); São Paulo Biennial, Brazil (2006); and Venice Biennial, Italy (2003).
