three decimal points, of a minute, of a second, of a degree
22 November - 10 January 2015
Zürich
I create from a space that doesn't exist. I am not interested in the things that I know but in things that I don't know about.'
– Bharti Kher
For her first exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Zürich, Bharti Kher unveils a new ensemble of sculptures that have been growing in her studio over the last few years.
In line with earlier studio practice, Kher assembles, juxtaposes and transforms found objects that are witness to their own histories. Wooden wheels and architectural remnants, mannequin body casts and pillars all clash in mis-en-scene of dystopia and grand orchestration.
These elements are assembled in a hazardous manner; suspended from the ceiling, hanging from ropes, propped up and held from falling with the help of counterweights and balances. Within the gallery, the objects are dramatically illuminated by a ray of light emitted from a searchlight usually used to navigate at sea. Together, the light and objects create a volume within the space – defining it, intersecting it and using all its dimensions like a curvature or ribbon that links all things. The overall impression of this architectural intervention is chaos; uniquely dependant on each object as a marker for the next, the viewer becomes witness to an un-definable domestic narrative; an event past or about to happen.
The only stability in the ensemble is a triangle, the work that gives the exhibition its title, in which a single point of contact holds everything together in perfect equilibrium.
'It is a mobile that naturally finds balance or a point that marks the place and time and coordinates of where the world can stand still for a minute or a second of a degree. By both defying and accepting gravitational forces all objects can find perfect equilibrium, poise and meaning.'
– Bharti Kher
The works on display at Hauser & Wirth are individual works, but in this exhibition they form a heterogeneous narrative in which Kher further explores the artistic strategy of stripping objects of their meaning and making them open to misinterpretation and magic, creating alluring works of abstract beauty.
About the Artist
Kher has exhibited at numerous museums and institutions internationally, including the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2014); Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London (2012); the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (2012); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2010); the Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria (2009); the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2008); the South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2007); and the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT (2006), among others.
Kher was awarded the YFLO Woman Achiever of the Year in 2007 and received the ARKEN prize in 2010. Bharti Kher lives and works in New Delhi.
Born in London in 1969, Bharti Kher’s art gives form to quotidian life and its daily rituals in a way that reassesses and transforms their meaning to yield an air of magical realism. Now living between London, UK and New Delhi, India, her use of found objects is informed by her own position as an artist located between geographic and social milieus. Her way of working is exploratory: surveying, looking, collecting, and transforming, as she repositions the viewer’s relationship with the object and initiates a dialogue between metaphysical and material pursuits.
The bindi is an iconic personal affect of Indian women that is one of Kher’s signature materials and a loaded symbol. Since first appearing in her work in 1995, the bindi has inherited an aesthetic and cultural duality, a means to mix the superficial with the sublime. Kher explains: ‘Many people believe it’s a traditional symbol of marriage while others, in the West particularly, see it as a fashion accessory... But actually the bindi is meant to represent a third eye—one that forges a link between the real and the spiritual-conceptual worlds.’ Used as a material to articulate and animate her themes, bindis as such are not meant to be the central-motif of her work but rather act as a material, much like paint or clay, but with an inherent narrative. The bindis themselves undergo a shift in their initial cultural capital—they are defamiliarized, made to seem both scientific and mystical.
At the center of Kher’s practice are her sculptures, early examples of which featured fantastical hybrid characters, blurring the distinctions between humans and nature, ecology and politics. In line with this early practice, Kher continues to assemble, juxtapose and transform found objects that are witness to their own histories. Wooden wheels and architectural remnants, mannequin body casts and pillars all clash in mis-en-scenes of dystopia and grand orchestration. These elements are assembled in a hazardous manner; suspended from the ceiling, hanging from ropes, propped up and held from falling with the help of counterweights and balances; ultimately forming a heterogeneous narrative in which Kher further explores the artistic strategy of stripping objects of their meaning and making them open to misinterpretation and magic, creating alluring works of abstract beauty.
The Fact That It Amazes Me Does Not Mean I Relinquish It
13 September 2024 – 5 January 2025
Downtown Los Angeles
Arbeiten auf Papier / Works on Paper / Oeuvres sur Papier: 1975 – 2009
27 September – 20 December 2024
Zurich, Limmatstrasse
The Fact That It Amazes Me Does Not Mean I Relinquish It
13 September 2024 – 5 January 2025
Downtown Los Angeles
Arbeiten auf Papier / Works on Paper / Oeuvres sur Papier: 1975 – 2009
27 September – 20 December 2024
Zurich, Limmatstrasse
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