Viviana Abelson‘s installations and sculptures are characterized by contrasts. Rigid shapes and elastic materials enter tensional connections and her static objects provoke interaction. The sculptural elements have a strong physical presence in the room, yet their materiality remains superficial. Viviana Abelson uses industrially manufactured materials such as steel, rubber and leather, whose physical and alchemical potential she illuminates in her installations. At the same time, the works are often reminiscent of archaic, timelapsed objects with ritual functions.
Her artistic practice is characterized by the exchange of bodily and physical energies. In manufacturing process, the materials are exposed to aggressive, external forces. They symbolize, as it were, the invisible, powerful forces that influence us in a larger social context and thus point to the emergence of political bodies.
In addition to works from the past two years, the exhibition Silver Glaze shows new works created especially for her first institutional solo exhibition. These works were created on site in the premises of the Kunstverein, so that the exhibition concept was developed continuously during the process. The starting point is the installation Sunburn (2018), a bull leather-covered tractor tire and a wooden paravent developed by Viviana Abelson in the rural area of Cordoba (Argentina), that sets the rhythm of the show.
For the opening and in cooperation with the percussionist and electronical music producer from southern Italy Daniele De Santis, Viviana Abelson develops an electroacoustic concert, in which the musician interacts with Abelson‘s work while drumming on Sunburn.
Viviana Abelson (* 1985, Buenos Aires, ARG) studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste-Städelschule with Laure Prouvost and Prof. Douglas Gordon, she graduated in 2018 as a master student. From 2013 to 2014 she attended the class of Prof. Josephine Pryde at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Previously she studied at the University of Torcuato Di Tella and LIPAC - Buenos Aires University. Her most recent solo exhibitions include Edible at Graf von Westphalen (Frankfurt a. M., 2019) and Sol de Noche at Zmud Projects (Buenos Aires, 2018). Her works were shown in group exhibitions among others at Städel Museum (Frankfurt a. M., DE), Kunstverein Göttingen (DE), Amsterdams Centrum voor Fotografie (NL) and in 2019 in And This is Us at the Frankfurter Kunstverein (DE).