Vendredi 03 Août 2012 15:13:22 par actuphoto dans Expositions

Natascha Stellmach's first solo exhibition in Germany is the result of her year-long Australia Council for the Arts grant and residency as part of the International Studio Programme at Künstlerhaus Bethanien. The cross-media project The Book of Back explores through staged and found photographs, stories, video and installation, a dark family story set between Germany and Australia, underpinned by the poetic Germanic idea of Zerrissenheit - being torn between lands, being torn between worlds, being torn. In this work 'Back' is a metaphor for a lost place, for the past, representing the hidden part of history one often chooses to ignore because it is difficult, painful or sad. The Book of Back consists of two parts, a 108-page artist book and an installation that hints at a child's room. The room holds bizarre objects, a nightmarish video work in collaboration with composer David Chisholm (www.davidchisholm.com) and the book itself. Stellmach seeks out contemporary realisations for existential tragedies, fears and anxieties. Engaging with the installation The Book of Back is like finding oneself in a cabinet of reflex mirrors, where stories and images from the artist book of the same name have manifested and come together, including the book itself. Sinking into its dark poetry, the reader is spun into a world within worlds, to a point of intense psychological discomfort. (Writer / Curator Astrid Mania)