Una Szeemann

In, um es herum und unterhalb

May 6 – July 22 2018

Una Szeemann (b.1975 in Locarno, lives and works in Zurich) is fascinated by finding visible traces of invisible phenomena. In her own words, her artistic process resembles “wandering in the landscapes of the unconscious”. The exhibition at the Kunsthalle Winterthur comprises a body of new photography, sculpture and installation, all connected by characteristics either in form or content, and merged into an imposing and grand sculpture.
In the main hall, the visitor is welcomed by a photographic diptych that adopts the latin title Welwitschia Mirabilis, and portrays a male and female specimen of a plant bearing the same name. The plant is a monotypic gymnosperm genus found in the Namib desert and consisting of only one pair of leaves that can grow to a diameter of up to three metres and reach an age of 2000 years. The concave and convex curvatures of the plant refer to basic and universal body forms or organisms and also define the sculptural gestures in the room. The large scale work Auf einem langen Schatten (On a Long Shadow) consists of black cows' skins dangling over a metal spine, suggesting the loss of their original function of housing bodies. The work contrasts with Über dem See und umgekehrt (Over the Lake and Inverse), consisting of fragmented casts of body parts made in acrylic resin and confidently maintaining the volume of the long-gone originals. In the small hall, the five copper plates Die verschobene Verdichtung eines Schläfers (The Displaced Compression of a Sleeper), bend from wall to floor, referring again to the body disappeared. Its presence here is visible in the form of traces left by movements of a human body in combination with the oxidation process; motion in the past has transformed into the psyche of the moment.

Oliver Kielmayer