Peter Fischli

Peter Fischli begins with a paradoxical intervention. Black furniture is usually to be found in the KUB lobby. Fischli has covered the elegant surfaces that Peter Zumthor designed using precious birds-eye maple with whitewashed particle board constructions, for his solo exhibition at Kunsthaus Bregenz. “It’s literally a re-construction,” states Fischli. The interior of the lobby has been embellished, the distinctive refined by the cheap.

Fischli is presenting new works in Bregenz, some of which are being especially developed for the Kunsthaus. In Work, Summer, 2018, he is showing clips from GoPro videos, exploring the work of leisure. There are reliefs made from synthetic foam, cardboard imitations of objects relating to the packaging industry, and large-format photographs of acts of microvandalism in public spaces. His works are always characterized by precise observation, cunning criticism, and mischievous mimicry.

Some objects in the exhibition, like holders for a leaflet, have been upgraded, from simple exhibition fixtures to elaborate unique pieces, cast in bronze. They become works of art. The leaflet itself features an image of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. However, the reproduction is a low resolution one, obviously downloaded from the Internet and apparently clumsily positioned towards the upper margin. “BREGENZ” is inscribed above it, as if someone had mistaken Bregenz for Bilbao or even the museums’ star architects.  The poster for the exhibition likewise employs a comparable strategy that confuses the identity of a place. Peter Fischli is provoking a reversal in hierarchy.

The exhibition opens on Friday, September 11, from 3pm to 8pm, and is on display until November 29, 2020. Visitor of every age can profit from a broad supporting progam including guided tours, workshops, talks and events.
 

About Peter Fischli
From 1979 onwards Peter Fischli (born 1952 in Zurich, Switzerland) created works, together with his partner David Weiss, who died in 2012, that are regarded as masterpieces of 20th century art. The artists developed a body of work that enabled domestic objects and everyday experiences to return in different and unexpected forms. Peter Fischli lives and works in Zurich, his most recent projects include exhibitions in Aspen, Colorado, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, at Reena Spaulings, Los Angeles and New York, as well as the House of Gaga, Mexiko-City.