Ruth Anderwald & Leonhard Grond. Shattered Horizon

17.10.2010 - 15.11.2010

Himalayas Art Museum, Shanghai / Zhongguo

In their first solo show SHATTERED HORIZON in China they will display photographs of the series ‘Atlas’ and recent video installations.
In Greek (European) mythology Atlas was sentenced to push Uranus (heaven) away from Gaia (earth) in order to prevent him from constantly raping her. In visual arts however Uranus is usually wrongfully illustrated as porter of the globe.
Anderwald + Grond demonstrate in their series ‘Atlas’ how this task of carrying the globe was carried out. Some of the people do it with lightness, others push up the earth in a big effort, some are lying down, others execute it on their knees....
Their poses differ depending on opinion and view of the world. Furthermore, in this photographic work, the mythological figure of Atlas emerges from ordinary people in real life. “Through the photos of Anderwald + Grond, we find that everyone on this earth is Atlas, everyone hopelessly struggles for something, and everyone’s existence on the terrestrial sphere and in the real world is a complex relation which cannot be easily explained. “ (Gu Zheng, Fudon University, China)*

In SHATTERED HORIZON four recent video installations will be installed. The seven minutes film INK, RAIN, SWANS IN A SHANGHAI PARK describes the phenomenon of a solar eclipse, shot 2009 in Shanghai. Ruth Anderwald and Leonhard Gronds camera appears as a natural tool, while the exposed film sequences oscillate in the time spans of a directly affected mind. The activity of recording implies a continuous modelling of reality.

The main tool of the film INK, RAIN, SWANS IN A SHANGHAI PARK, obscurity enhances what creatures and its surroundings find out during a period of time that can bring out fear as well as devotion and overwhelming amazement. The enigma of a solar eclipse that sweeps even modern life people off their feet is subtly delineated in this short movie and can be almost understood as a metaphor for the word combination SHATTERED HORIZON itself.

[Quelle: Einladung]