The Lehmbruck Museum is showing a comprehensive presentation of the work of the sculptor Alicja Kwade (*1979). The show presents a total of 48 works from early photographs, works on paper and videos to sculptures and large-scale installations. Alicja Kwade is designing an exhibition for the Lehmbruck Museum that includes parts of the entire museum. It extends from the Lehmbruck wing over the glass hall to the new building and also includes the sculpture courtyard. Alicja Kwade uses the museum's architecture to create contrasts - between light and dark, light and heavy, small and large. A very unique cosmos is emerging in which our existing assumptions begin to falter.
The sculpture “l'ordre des mondes (Totem)” was created especially for this exhibition. Impressive works such as the mobiles “Superheavy Skies”, the spatial installations “Light Touch of Totality” and “Between Glances” can be seen for the first time in Germany. Alicja Kwade takes the liberty of using the entire repertoire of art to formulate her questions. She uses photography and video, the classic materials of sculpture, bronze, marble, wood, stainless steel, the most diverse forms of stones and metals and also everyday objects that are familiar to us. Alicja Kwade repeatedly combines these different material properties and disrupts our ideas of weight and lightness, mass and dissolution, truth and fiction. Through seemingly infinite reflections, Doublings and moments of irritation present us with surprisingly new perspectives in her works, far removed from our viewing habits. The exhibition opens our eyes to the history of art - from Wilhelm Lehmbruck to Surrealism and Minimal Art to the present day.
The exhibition looks at the big picture. Kwade explores the nature of society and the systems in which we operate every day. In search of new explanations and models for understanding our world, she looks at the principles of our being. In doing so, she skillfully puts our idea of reality to the test and makes us question our own assumptions. Because: Anyone who has doubts takes a closer look and rethinks what would otherwise seem self-evident. Alicja Kwade has mastered this insightful game of irritation perfectly.
In the field of contemporary sculpture, Alicja Kwade's work has an exceptional position: the captivating aesthetics of the materials, the harmony of the form coupled with the precise formulation of existential questions are qualities that make her work unique. With her exhibition “In Agnosia” she touches on the core points of the art of sculpture. Her sculptures and expansive installations question our understanding of reality. They upset familiar forms of perception and put value systems to the test. All of this is necessary to occasionally redefine our idea of normality. The title of the exhibition “In Agnosia” sharpens the concept of agnosia, a disorder of perception, and uses it in a philosophical dimension, as an “idea of loss of sensory perception” (Kwade). If our usual perception fails, this can be the beginning of another, new form of perception.
The exhibition is supported by Sparkasse Duisburg, Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Rheinland, GEBAG Duisburger Baugesellschaft mbH, duisport - Duisburger Hafen AG and the city of Duisburg.