An Incorporeal Suggestion to Wander on White
or: Constructing My Own Switzerland
Since an Artist in Residence stay in 2010 at the Villa Sträuli in the Swiss Winterthur I have been creating my own Switzerland. Swiss alpine worlds – as a work in progress.
Delicate, finely cut entangled lines throw a light shadow on the pictorial ground and unfurl like a spreading network over the map sheets. They show the ski routes which were either wrested from or following the mountain structure – not as physically existing transportation paths, but as „suggestions to wander on white“. Framed by the margin of the map with all its cartographical data, these suggestions for ski routes are exposed as man-made constructs – a measured, calculated and mathematically determined alpine world.
The 30 topographic map sheets from the Swiss Federal Office of Topography show the alpine area of Switzerland. The hanging arrangement arises out of the geographical position of the area and forms an irregular group, which comprises, if it is hung in its entirety, six rows and a wall area of approximately 5 x 10 m.
An Incorporeal Suggestion to Wander on WhiteExhibition view, DEW21 Art Award, Museum of Art and Art History, Dortmund 2012
3 of 6 map rows, 3,80 x 7,00 m
An Incorporeal Suggestion to Wander on White, selection.
Nufenpass 245/1, papercut 60 x 80 cm, mounted, 2011.From the 30-part series: An Incorporeal Suggestion to Wander on White
An Incorporeal Suggestion to Wander on White, detail.
An Incorporeal Suggestion to Wander on White, detail.
Faked Mountains
or: Constructing My Own Switzerland
Set against the „Incorporeal Suggestions to Wander on White“ are fictive alpine panoramas. Steep mountain peaks with sunny slopes and shadowy ravines show apparently real landscapes. They are constructed out of many small cuttings from the topographic ski tour maps. Looking at them more closely, the allegedly real alpine worlds show deep upthrows, inexplicable cracks and abrupt shifts in direction.
Faked Mountains, collage with drawing, 60 x 80 cm each, 2011-2012Exhibition view, DEW21 Art Award, Museum of Art and Art History, Dortmund 2012
Faked Mountain, 245/1, collage and pencil drawing, 50 x 65 cm, 2010
Faked Mountain, 268/1, Lei da Silvaplauna, collage, 50 x 65 cm, 2010
The number in the title refers to the map sheet and to the area in which the „Faked Mountain“ would be likely to be found if it was existing.
Faked Mountain, detail
picture credits:
picture 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 9 by Hannes Woidich