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2015 » Switzerland » Section of Countries and Regions
| Curator: | Eric Linder, Markus Lüscher Barbara Zürcher, Imanuel Schipper, |
| Institution: | Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia |
Under the Tail of the Horse
If you arrange to meet friends at Prague’s Wenceslas Square, you’ll probably decide to meet at the memorial dedicated to the Czech national hero Wenceslas, sitting atop his trusty steed. In other words, you’ll meet Under the Tail of the Horse.
This idea formed the launchpad for the Swiss contri-bution. The works use a scenographic approach to examine public spaces that are not only geographical locations, but also form a stage for encounters where various paths cross and different people come together.
Wenceslas Square and the Podoli swimming complex are two important sites where everyday public life is played out, while the Clam-Gallas Palace exhibition space is a cultural location steeped in tradition.
Public spaces are used and co-opted, they are sites of performance, overlaid by both the private and public spheres. Public space is shared space; it only takes on meaning and serves a purpose when people come together. Their movements transform a geographical place into a space, as theorist Michel de Certeau has shown. However this raises several questions: how is the space shared and how do spatial conditions, cultural codes and social conventions shape the communal use of space?
Under the Tail of the Horse uses interventions to investigate whether and how scenographic action can influence these processes. Fundamental to the investigation is an understanding of scenography as the practice of shaping performative spaces, which results from a three-way negotiation between place, performative practices and cultural context.
uses interventions to investigate whether and how scenographic action can influence these processes. Fundamental to the investigation is an understanding of scenography as the practice of shaping performative spaces, which results from a three-way negotiation between place, performative practices and cultural context.A location’s specific spatial, social and cultural qualities are examined by means of intervention, when Wenceslas Square’s central axis plays host to the Wenceslas Line market stall construction by Markus Lüscher and Erik Steinbrecher, which simultaneously divides and unites. Or when the music of OY and Sunfast meets the movements of the swimmers in the wave-shaped swimming complex during the Podoli Wave performance, curated by Eric Linder. The same is true of the Reception photography exhibition curated by Barbara Zürcher at the Clam-Gallas Palace: it reflects the Swiss contribution and at the same time represents a continuation of the history of this Baroque palace, which was originally built as a site of officialdom, and which more recently has been used as a city archive.
The Reception exhibition welcomes visitors with photo essays by Iren Stehli and Rishabh Kaul on the scenographic interventions, thereby opening up a space for personal narratives. Wenceslas Line and Podoli Wave also encourage spectators to get involved: people can use the construction, while the performance invites people to enter the water or the spatial experience.
TEAM OF FOUR CURATORS