Media Release , April 2019

CARAVAN 2/2019: Moritz Hossli

Series of Exhibitions of Young Art

18 May – 11 August 2019 Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau

Stories, anecdotes or current events serve as the starting points for new works by Moritz Hossli (b. 1990). His CARAVAN exhibition is conceived as a multi-part video installation and revolves around the Aletsch Glacier and its transformation over time. With this, Hossli addresses in general the ways humans deal with changes in nature.

A lignite mining site in Brandenburg (Replaced Landscape, 2015), a group of radio hams in Berlin Brandenburg (Allee der Kosmonauten, 2016) or the mysterious founding night of an art association in the Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg (Kilo Tango Eins Drei Eins Drei, 2017); the subjects which Hossli reflects on in his work are extremely varied. His practice is not unlike that of a scientist who examines his subject from many different perspectives. Hossli’s preferred medium is film, though he tends to use an installation-based setting to supplement or complete it.

Hossli’s inspiration for his exhibition in the CARAVAN series of young art was an event which first made headlines in Swiss media in 2009, yet whose origins go back more than three hundred years: a vow taken in 1678 by the residents of the villages of Fiesch and Fieschertal and approved by the Pope. It was prompted by the Aletsch Glacier, the largest and longest glacier in the and, to the villagers, a constant threat due to its expansion. The vow allowed them to pray against further growth of the glacier. From 1862 on, an annual procession was also held to ward off the threat posed by the glacier. Today, however, the residents of Fiesch and Fieschertal no longer see their local glacier as a threat; on the contrary, they are sad about its significant shrinkage since the end of the nineteenth century. The Aletsch Glacier is not just a natural landmark but also a tourist attraction and a major source of revenue for the region. In 2010, the Vatican therefore permitted the Valais villages upon request by Herbert Walden, prefect of the district of Goms, to reverse the vow, and so from that point on the annual procession could be held under the opposite premise.

This anecdote which could be dismissed as a curiosity of the Roman- Catholic Church, says much about the way people relate to nature and their immediate environments – and above all about how this relationship can change over time. Hossli visualised this shift in significance in his filmic work by contrasting the protagonist of the past with one from the present and having the two talk about their relationship to the glacier. The contrary views – fear and admiration vis-à-vis the white giant concern – switch back and forth before our eyes. Rather than in a faithful depiction of the aforementioned events, Hossli is interested in how a society in general tries to handle a force of nature: by means of religion and faith or with science and technology. Hossli points to the latter with his drone recordings taken above the Aletsch and Rhone Glaciers which show both the bare ice sheets and those covered by large swaths of fabric. The white fleece reflects the UV rays, thereby slowing down the melting process. Both the prayers and the sun protection ultimately have the same objective: to halt the glacier shrinkage.

Hossli’s work avoids making a judgment about the different approaches and, instead, raises additional questions. This is very much in keeping with his artistic mentality: He researches and, at the same time, invariably aims for the best possible aesthetic and technical realisation. The drone recordings, for instance, are strangely beautiful; the structures of the ice resembles those of the fabric panels. The artist also worked with a thermal imaging camera, thus using an instrument of scientific measurement as a thematic stylistic device. Thermal imaging cameras are used in a wide range of applications and visualise processes that are difficult to capture, such as changes in surface temperatures.

As a link to the past, the exhibition includes a painting of a glacier by Caspar Wolf (1735-1783). Caspar Wolf was the first artist to venture into the mountains accompanied by scientists and the scenes he painted demonstrate an entirely new degree of realism. One could imagine Hossli in one of Caspar Wolf’s paintings, though not as part of the obligatory party of travellers, but standing a few metres behind them and closely observing them in their activities.

Moritz Hossli, born in 1990 in Giswil (Canton of Obwalden), lives and works in Giswil, Lucerne and Berlin. 2018 Art and Media graduate, Berlin University of the Arts; 2013 Bachelor Art and Communication, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts

Solo Exhibitions to Date: Kilo Tango Eins Drei Eins Drei, Nidwaldner Museum, Winkelriedhaus, Stans (2017); Terra Nova, Galerie Hofmatt, Sarnen (2017); Andante, O.T. Raum für aktuelle Kunst, Lucerne (2014).

Selected Group Exhibitions to Date: Jahresausstellung Zentralschweizer Kunstschaffen XL, Kunstmuseum Luzern (2018); NOW 18, Jahresausstellung Ob- und Nidwalden, Nidwaldner Museum, Winkelriedhaus, Stans (2018); Uckermark Festival 18, Uckermark Brandenburg (DE) (2018); Examining the Edge in the City and the Mind, Schloss Biesdorf, Berlin (2018); Malerisch, Tal Museum Engelberg (2018); Current Situation, Kultur Raum Zwinglikirche, Berlin (2017); Stadtprojektionen II, St. Gallen (2017); Riso Amaro, Broletto, Novara (IT) (2017); Zur frohen Aussicht, Ernen (Canton of Valais) (2017).

Curator Bettina Mühlebach, Assistant Curator, Aargauer Kunsthaus

CARAVAN Series of Exhibitions of Young Art The CARAVAN Series of Exhibitions of Young Art offers visitors to the Aargauer Kunsthaus the opportunity to make surprising encounters with young Swiss artists from all over and discover as yet unestablished artistic practices. Over the course of the year, three solo exhibitions in the form of “mobile interventions” can be found in different locations within the museum. The artists are invited to bring their works into a dialogue with the building, the collection or the programme of the Kunsthaus.

CARAVAN Website Please visit the web platform for the CARAVAN Series of Exhibitions of Young Art! Find information on all past and current CARAVAN exhibitions in the digital archive and follow the newsfeed to stay informed about CARAVAN-related news in the social media. http://caravan.aargauerkunsthaus.ch

Preview for the Media Thursday, 16.5.2019, 10.30 am Welcome address by Madeleine Schuppli, Director Aargauer Kunsthaus; introduction by Bettina Mühlebach, Assistant Curator, Aargauer Kunsthaus. Followed by a reception in the foyer

Exhibition Opening Friday, 17.5.2019, 6 pm 6.15 pm Welcome address by Madeleine Schuppli, Director Aargauer Kunsthaus; introduction by Bettina Mühlebach, Assistant Curator, Aargauer Kunsthaus. Followed by a reception in the foyer 5 – 6 pm Preview for members of the Art Association 6 – 8 pm Children’s Opening.

CARAVAN in Conversation Sunday 23.6.2019, 3 pm Glacial melting is one of many keywords in the highly topical climate debate. How does society respond to natural events that get out of control? The artist Moritz Hossli reflects on this question in his video installation and discusses it with Dr. Dania Achermann, Junior Professor of the History of Science and Technology at Bergische Universität Wuppertal, and Bettina Mühlebach, Assistant Curator at the Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau.

Images for the Media Images are available for downloading on our website www.aargauerkunsthaus.ch> Media. Please consider the copyright.

Opening Hours Tue – Sun: 10 am – 5 pm; Thu: 10 am – 8 pm

Holiday Opening Hours Open 10 am – 5 pm: Ascension Day 30.5., Whitsun 9.6., Whit-Monday 10.6., Eve of Maienzug 4.7., Maienzug 5.7., Swiss National Holiday 1.8.

For additional information please contact: Bettina Mühlebach, Assistant Curator, Aargauer Kunsthaus, tel. +41 (0)62 835 42 11, email [email protected] Christina Omlin, Communication / Media, Aargauer Kunsthaus, tel. +41 (0)62 835 23 34, email [email protected]

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