Stefan Baltensperger, Ein Singen im Kopf, 2012, Installation view, 17ZWEI, S-Bahn-Station Hardbrücke, Zürich.
|
Stefan Baltensperger, Ein Singen im Kopf, 2012, Installation view, 17ZWEI, S-Bahn-Station Hardbrücke, Zürich.
|
David Siepert and Stefan Baltensperger at Zona Maco, Mexico.
|
Baltensperger + Siepert, Territories, 2013, Installation view, Zona Maco, Mexico.
|
Baltensperger + Siepert, Territories, 2013, Installation view, Zona Maco, Mexico.
|
|
|
For Stefan Baltensperger, it was a stroke of luck that he took part in the 17ZWEI project, launched by the Zurich University of Arts and Deutsche Bank Switzerland,
in November 2012. And for the project initiators, his participation
proved that they can provide young artists with a platform with an international
reach.
Every day, thousands of people pass through the Hardbrücke train station in Zurich West, where 17ZWEI
has been shown since the beginning of 2012. On a 17-meter-long,
two-meter-high (hence 17ZWEI, or 17TWO) billboard leased by Deutsche
Bank, temporary works by international artists are on view. It was here
that Stefan Baltensperger presented his work Ein Singen im Kopf (A Singing in the Head) in November 2012. While it was on display, the work drew the attention of Zurich gallery owner Armin Berger, and he invited the artist duo Stefan Baltensperger and David Siepert, who have worked together since 2008, to his gallery. Their exhibition Territories, mounted in November 2013, examined borders and migration. This sensitive topic captured the spirit of the times. Mirjam Varadinis, a curator of the Kunsthaus Zurich and a guest curator for the New Proposals section of Zona Maco,
Latin America’s most important art fair, also recognized the potential
of the works and invited the gallery and the artists to Mexico City.
Baltensperger + Siepert’s exhibition Territories became a crowd puller at Zona Maco and was discussed far beyond the borders of the art fair.
A work called The Silent Theme by Steven Emmanuel, which engages with the classic computer game Tetris, is currently on exhibit in Hardbrücke station.
|
