From 20 March until 14 June 2009, the Kunsthaus Zürich is hosting Switzerland’s first one-man show by artist Mark Manders. Manders creates installations-cum-sculptures, fragments of a self-portrait arranged in the form of imaginary rooms.

Mark Manders - Finished Sentence, 1998-2006 Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

His lyrical, often melancholy objects, installations and drawings function like the components of a poem, to be assembled at will by his observers.

Mark Manders - ( - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / -), 1994 Privatsammlung, Deutschland

Born in Holland in 1968, Manders is one of the best-known independent artists on the international sculpture scene, with shows at the Venice Biennale (2001), Documenta 11 (2002) and the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh (2008).

Mark Manders - Unfired Clay Figure, 2005-06 Dakis Joannou Collection, Athen

This exhibition, curated by Mirjam Varadinis, is a premiere for Switzerland: Manders’ work has never before been available to the Swiss public in a one-man show. The presentation in the collection rooms at the Kunsthaus Zürich will bring his work into contact with sculptures by other contemporary artists, pieces acquired by the Kunsthaus in recent years.

Mark Manders - Silent Factory, 2000 Pinakothek der Moderne, München

Manders’ entire oeuvre can be seen as an attempt to grasp his own existence, his own biographical development, as wordless, associative memory spaces.

BLACK AS THE NIGHT

Manders’ work has a strong affinity to poetry. His creations are concentrated, encrypted narratives in which he sets store as well by the gaps between elements. Manders himself says that he is trying to convey a particular feeling in poetic form; his individual works function as the individual components of a poem, to be assembled by his viewers.

What all of his pieces have in common is a slightly sinister undertone. His art is filled with loneliness and melancholy, and viewers sense the schism and profound alienation that shape our lives at present.

Mark Manders. Foto by: Marije Langelaar

His frequent use of black, which is explicitly associated with melancholy, is part of this effect. But black also conveys mystery, passion and secrecy, themes which are pivotal to Manders’ art. They are present in his numerous landscapes by night, such as ‘Nocturnal Garden Scene’ (2005), and they trigger fear and amazement, among other things, in his viewer.

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Kunstverein Hannover, Bergen Kunsthall, and S.M.A.K. in Gent. A monograph is available at the Museum Shop for CHF 49. The exhibition was realized with financial support of the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Kunsthaus Zürich, Heimplatz 1
CH–8001 Zurich
www.kunsthaus.ch

Open Sat, Sun, Tues 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Wed, Thurs, Fri 10 a.m. – 8 p.m
Holidays: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Additional information and press images:
Kunsthaus Zürich
Kristin Steiner, Press & Communications
kristin.steiner@kunsthaus.ch
P. +41 (0)44 253 84 13

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 7:56 am and is filed under Art, Exhibition, Installation Art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.