Barbara J. Scheuermann Libri

The focus of Candice Breitz's artistic work is on the examination of the influence of family, society, or communities that form the basis of certain affiliations such as race, gender, nationality, or religion, as well as on the importance of the media, which creates new groups and associations. Feminist matters are the focus of this presentation. The Kunstmuseum Bonn presents a comprehensive solo exhibition about the artist Candice Breitz (*1972 in Johannesburg), who grew up in South Africa and lives in Berlin, with video installations and photographs from the last 25 years.  The exhibition presents works ranging from the early Ghost Series (1994), a series of photographs that reflected on the violence of whiteness under the apartheid regime at the moment of South Africa’s political transformation in 1994, to more recent works such as TLDR (2017), a 13-channel video installation, which was created in collaboration with a community of South African sex workers, which deals with their worldwide struggle for basic human rights. For her most recent work Labour, which also was the inspiration for the exhibition title Breitz has filmed several women while giving birth. In addition to the exhibition documentation, the accompanying book offers an overview of all works since 2010. 

Jahrtausendealte Faszination der Maske: Sie erlaubt die Verwandlung des Trägers in eine andere Daseinsform und seit der Idee einer Übernatürlichkeit gibt es sie in allen Kulturen. Ihre kulturelle Bedeutung und Interpretation hat sich im Laufe ihrer Geschichte immer wieder gewandelt. Aber was bedeutet die Maske heute – bei Riten, in Theater und Gesellschaft –, und wie inspirieren Masken die bildende Kunst? Der vorliegende Band zeigt, wie Künstlerpositionen von Dada, Surrealismus und Expressionismus bis zur Kunst der Gegenwart die Maske in den Blickpunkt nehmen. Masks have fascinated since thousands of years: Since the genesis of the notion of the supernatural, they have existed in all cultures and allow the wearer to transmute into another form of existence. Their cultural significance has changed over time, but what does the mask mean today – in rites, theatre and society? And how do masks inspire the visual arts? This volume shows how artistic positions ranging from Dada, Surrealism and Expressionism to contemporary art focus on the mask.