Figuline Stories - Fractures of a Lifetime

Questions about the vitality of geological materials - specifically clay - that are used as ceramics in architecture, design and art form the core theme of the video work Figuline Stories - Fractures of a Lifetime (2021), newly produced for the exhibition. Based on scans and recordings of Haller’s figurative clay sculptures, which were subsequently animated, Lithic Alliance explores themes of life and the perception of inorganic matter. In the video, Haller’s figures, or rather the materials from which the figures were once moulded, are brought back to life. They speak and sing about their own original nature, which has been temporarily distorted by their figurative representation, but to which they will surely be returned at some point. The visually powerful images are complemented by written and musical text layers, which are partly poetic, partly humorous, and lead through different temporalities. The video work is presented as an installative staging that integrates a shelf and busts of Hermann Haller’s busts and subjects them to visual fragmentation.

Zitronen und Zement – Vom Material zur Skulptur
Vanessa Billy, Fischli/Weiss, Hermann Haller, Simone Holliger, Lithic Alliance, Valentina Pini, David Renggli, Kilian Ruethemann
5. Juni bis 10. Oktober 2021
Kuratiert von Maren Brauner und Irene Grillo
Atelier Hermann Haller Zürich
https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/kultur/de/index/institutionen/atelier_hermann_haller/fruehere-ausstellungen/ausstellung-2021-.html