Julian Charrière: Towards No Earthly Pole

With Towards No Earthly Pole the Aargauer Kunsthaus is presenting the work of the Swiss artist Julian Charrière (b. 1987). The subject of travel as well as the actual expedition assume a central importance in his artistic practice. Time and again, he seeks out regions that have global significance for our past, present and future. For his latest, monumental film work Towards No Earthly Pole he journeyed to the most inhospitable parts of the planet: the Antarctic, Greenland and Iceland, but also extraordinary domestic topographies such as the alpine glaciers.

The projection that lends its title to the solo exhibition allows the viewers to immerse themselves in fascinating ice landscapes, and transports them into a remote and deserted spot. It shows regions that we think we know thanks to collectively constructed images, but which very few of us have visited in person. The depiction of these places in Charrière’s feature-length film work astonishes with its deliberately subjective, poetic reproduction of these unusual territories.

Other works in the exhibition—photographs, sculptures, videos and installations—are steeped in the artist’s curiosity about understanding the environment: photographs of idyllic palm beaches treated with radioactive material, floating globes stripped of their surface information, or pictures showing Charrière himself melting a glacier. For visitors, the tour of the exhibition becomes a journey through the cosmos of Charrière, who is both artist and researcher, and offers an engagement with the inseparable connection between humanity and nature.

In cooperation with MASI Lugano

Publication
To coincide with the exhibition, in October a comprehensive publication (German/English) will be released on the subject of Julian Charrière’s latest film Towards No Earthly Pole. With essays by: Francesca Benini, Amanda Boetzkes, Katherine Brodbeck, Dehlia Hannah, Scott MacKenzie & Anna Westerståhl Stenport, Shane McCorristine, Nadim Samman and Katrin Weilenmann, as well as a conversation between the artist and the climate expert Konrad Steffen.
Aargauer Kunsthaus, MASI Lugano, Dallas Museum of Art, and Mousse Publishing, ISBN 978-88-6749-434-7

Artist edition
Julian Charrière is creating a limited edition for the exhibition.

Curators
Guest Curator: Katrin Weilenmann
Assistant Curator: Bettina Mühlebach

Events

Book launch and sound performance
Saturday, October 24
Book presentation in the presence of the artist and live sound performance by the musician and composer Robert Lippok
With thanks to: Dittrich & Schlechtriem, Berlin; Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz; Sies+Höke, Düsseldorf

Tour with Konrad Steffen
Thursday, November 5, 6:30pm
Climate researcher Konrad Steffen explores polar and alpine regions
In conversation with Katrin Weilenmann, Guest Curator

Tour with Anja Blacha
Sunday, December 6, 1pm
Extreme athlete Anja Blacha recently completed a solo expedition to the South Pole
In conversation with Bettina Mühlebach, Assistant Curator