Halle für Kunst is pleased to present a new constellation of works by British artist Tris Vonna-Michell for the exhibition Capstans. Text fragments, slides and objects are woven to new narrations in performances and installed mises-en-scène, in a repeatedly altered and intertwining fashion. The truth value of these narratives lies solely in the process-oriented presentation of language generating meaning and the current realization through the artist’s persona. The performative moment of the presentation, subjective speech, the changes in tone and speed, accentuate the associative and often times circular approach of Tris Vonna-Michell, whose objects, performances, paper works, slide projections, and films relate to each other in their (re)combinations, which appear to bypass any offerings of a completion. One can find a searching movement in this constant production that casts doubt on the documents, images and stories as representative mediums to convey history, while at the same time permanently creating images using the means of language. Images that are revised, however, as soon as the narrative is taken up again. A moderation of snippets and fragments – often prompted by incidental and situational events – that opens up a variety of perspectives of representation and observation.

Alluding to the question of the possibilities of recording and passing on history, which is always present in the subtext of his ephemeral works, Tris Vonna-Michell will show at Halle für Kunst an amalgamation of works already developed in different forms in the past. They will be taken up anew, modified, combined and distributed on site. During the course of the exhibition, texts and images will be printed on a GTO 46 – a Heidelberg printing press – with plates alternating on a daily basis. The disseminated material will be available as a series of works for the visitors and as inserts into a publication.

The book project will mark a continuation and implementation of his artistic practice in the medium of the book. It will be as much an artist book as it is a source for understanding the conceptual implications of the diverse projects and performances Tris Vonna-Michell has undertaken during the last few years.

Thanks to Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung, Land Niedersachsen, Lüneburgischer Landschaftsverband, Stadt Lüneburg, Wolfgang Steenholdt Grafische Maschinen GmbH