'10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0', Nora Schultz

Poster and publication designed in collaboration with Nora Schultz for her exhibition held at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, 7th January – 5th April 2009.

In her first institutional solo exhibition, '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0', Nora Schultz (*1975) shows comprehensive installations, slide projections and films that

express, in an abstract way, her intensive examination of a tangible reality. A direct language and the framing of cultural, political and ethnographic

values are the parameters that mutually pervade in her works. For the exhibition room Nora Schultz has created an installation seizing fundamental

sculptural questions. The installation shows several chrome-plated pipes mounted firmly on the wall or hung on a rope. Like a mobile, they sometimes

arrange themselves in a perfect balance resembling a set of scales, and sometimes they loose balance and seem to struggle for their position.

Nora Schultz' sculptures countermand the well-balanced weight ratio of the contrapposto in classical sculpture. Her works offer no well-balanced

relation between calmness and motion, tension and relaxation, or bondage and liberty of the body. The ratio of carrier and (self) weight incurs imbalance.

Schultz' minimal sculptures consist of industrial materials, found objects, building materials and ship's ropes. Their texture suggests an association to

the unfinished, to building and traveling. The authority of an “it has been so” is dissipated by the doubling and reproduction of images and situations

while offering at the same time another “authenticity” arising from the animation of the shown objects.

Two slide projections in the rear part of the room complement the fragile sculptures. The first series of slides records three-dimensional objects via

two-dimensional photographies taken from different angles. The image sequence is consequently dynamised and put into motion. Another slide projection

welcomes the visitor in the last room, showing found and personal  pictures of travels. The abstract indications of an (im)balance of masses and values are

translated into far-reaching cultural and political images. Schultz establishes associative references to the French author and ethnologist Michel Leiris who,

in his travel journeys and essays, offers an unsparing self analysis and an open, immediate impression of his experiences with foreign cultures. In his diary,

'L´Afrique Fantôme', Leiris describes African rituals of tribal civilizations that reflect not only their own history. The rituals comment and parody European

civilizations and show that there never is just one ruling point of view onto a subject, but that this point of view entirely is thrown back.

An accompanying publication designed by Nora Schultz and Manuel Raeder is availabe via the Kölnischer Kunstverein.