Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter: Silver Star

In the organizer's words:

The Halle für Kunst Lüneburg is pleased to present the first institutional solo exhibition Silver Star by Michèle Graf and Selina Grüter in Germany.

Silver Star is the name of a so-called hypercoaster - a special kind of rollercoaster designed for high speeds and airtime : the time an object spends in the air after it has left the ground - or the feeling of weightlessness. The Silver Star exhibition is characterized by repetitive, rhythmic movements of seemingly "useless" kinetic objects that testify to sophisticated craftsmanship and usually proceed smoothly without interruption. Disassembled watch springs vibrate, cogwheels rotate, cords swing and whip into the void. But no rule is without exception. The movements driven by motors are irregular, seemingly out of sync and possess a stubborn stubbornness beyond their ascribed function when they encounter the specific properties of their misappropriated materials - whether fishing line, drive rope or wire. One-to-one translations are shaken here when the movement and whirring sound of one sculpture is insidiously transferred into the movement of another. In the act of reappropriating alienated labor, Silver Star claims its own niche within a profitable production process and almost liberates machines from the bourgeois notion of eliminating wasted, dead time in labor output. While the fuel of modern value creation fizzles out here, Silver Star keeps losing its anchorage in our measured (time) reality.

Michèle Graf (*1987, CH) and Selina Grüter (*1991, CH) live in New York. They have been working together as an artist duo since their studies at the Zurich University of the Arts and participated together in the Whitney Independent Study Program. Their recent exhibitions include the 15th Baltic Triennial: Same Day, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (LT); More Clock Work, Fanta-MLN, Milan (IT); Kartonagen, Lovay Fine Arts, Geneva (CH); and Clock Work, Kunstverein Kevin Space, Vienna (AT).

The exhibition is curated by Elisa R. Linn.

The annual program at the Halle für Kunst Lüneburg e.V. is funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, the Lüneburg Regional Association and the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg. The educational program of the Halle für Kunst Lüneburg e.V. is made possible by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony and the VGH Foundation.

The exhibition is supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.