installation views, Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg 2017

Dear Christoph,

The exhibition plans are ready, the works decided upon, shipping arranged and installation instructions given. I´ve seen most of “the work”, since they were made in the studio we share in Vienna where I encountered their behavior. Though on the road, in the exhibitions, part of a party they acted upon these specific set of conditions. You were always there to navigate them around. You reported back with the stories.
The gap between “the works” I know and their setting now in Luxemburg is part of what is to be written about here. You talking me through their travelling experiences, the parties, conversations, and building up questions, it holds your navigational gaze and in its form this is just what you like.
It is as if you expect a frame to hold an image, you expect the crate to hold a work, this text to talk about the work. Though is that container interested in what it contains or the way around? Is the perfect composition of a half circle interested in the value of the stamp? Is the setting in which the works are shown interested in the work they hosted? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean this pejorative, sure there is a valuable interest from the position of the host but the question would be more precisely – In what sphere is the interest based?



I was intrigued by your description of ´a monument for a farmer’s war´ by Albrecht Dürer. You were telling me that this statue looks like it is composed in 15 minutes, and even if it is constructed out of the most redundant materials, like food containers, amphora, sheep and cows, it is still able to gain maximum height. Like your works might generate a serious depth or reach into space.
In the case of the gallery, a new wall is bound to be built, so the gallery can operate efficiently. The function of an architectural device here has as little interest in what is behind its wall as the container to what it contains. Though they act and react, as does the work when inserted. The implementation is not based on a shared interest situated in discourse. It is the ignorance inherent in the autonomy claim of the sculpture, architecture and exhibition device that opens up the space for this letter or what I would call the displaced social setting.

Curious to hear your stories back on your return
Pieternel Vermoortel

untitled (E), 2016
plastic, plaster, steel
75 × 92 × 3 cm

untitled (O), 2016
plastic, plaster, cork, steel
71 × 91.5 × 3 cm

untitled (D), 2016
plastic, plaster, steel
75 × 92 × 3 cm

untitled (AS), 2016
plastic, plaster, steel
71 × 91.5 × 3 cm

untitled, 2017
composite board, plaster, steel, canvas, acrylic
89 × 65.5 × 2 cm

untitled, 2017
composite board, plaster, steel, canvas, acrylic
89 × 65.5 × 2 cmcm

untitled, 2017
composite board, plaster, steel, canvas, acrylic
89 × 65.5 × 2 cm