In her complete solo exhibition, Agnes Scherer condenses life-size papier-mâché figures and work into stage-like settings. The title of the present, referencing the track Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel (engl.: Love is an odd sport) by the pop singer Connie Francis, explores the totally different conceptions of romantic love and the facility relations that include it. Widespread representations and narratives—together with medieval rituals or marriage ceremony scenes—are dismantled via symbolic shifts to replicate on modern views of those photographs.

“Ein seltsames Spiel” builds on Scherer’s analysis into cultural and artwork historic traditions. Overlapping and mutually exacerbating representations of historic and modern narratives intermingle to create a grotesque puppet theater. The totally different figures populate the exhibition areas as if on a movie set or in a wax museum, by no means absolutely rising from the floor of the painted background. Manifestations of romanticised love—broadly used archetypes and symbols in addition to references to popular culture—intertwine: pictorial mechanisms are revealed in addition to the reference programs of the artist and the viewer.

Whether or not via the illustration of medieval jousting or a marriage in white, Agnes Scherer’s spectacular and kooky spatial settings are narrative and interesting. As if via a peephole or a diorama, she makes use of theatrical components to provide the viewer a glimpse into the method of her work. The separate, self-contained scenes merge into overarching moods and visible worlds all through the exhibition. Standing symbols of western capitalist societies (quick vehicles, smartphones, and many others.) and bloodsucking vampires discover themselves on the identical stage right here.

Within the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, the German artist takes up widespread notions of heteronormative romanticism—thus the solemn event of a marriage turns into the premise for essential interrogations: The rehearsed occasion is revealed within the socio-political contexts during which it inevitably takes place. Humorous and detailed, Agnes Scherer negotiates cultural customs and ritualised concepts, inviting the viewers to look behind the scenes and their very own habits.

at Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen
till January 21, 2024