Wschód is pleased to invite you to the opening of a solo presentation The Year of Living Dangerously by Maria Loboda at ECHO, Cologne.
Opening weekend
as part of Dusseldorf Cologne Open Galleries (DC Open):
Saturday, September 3, 1 – 7 pm
Sunday, September 4, 1 – 5 pm
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The project The Year of Living Dangerously was initially presented during Art Basel Parcours 2022 in the Rhine, below one of the two bridges linking the historical neighborhood of the city with the Kleinbasel district, as a collaboration between Thomas Schulte, Berlin,Maisterravalbuena, Madrid and Wschód, Warsaw/Cologne.
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It was tantamount to an art historical crime scene: a cluster of sculptures by Constantin Brancusi, Jean Arp, Barbara Hepworth, Jean Dubuffet, and Jeff Koons, washed by the rolling waves, bleaching in the sun.
Maria Loboda called on a number of artists whose practice redefined the thinking about sculpture throughout the 20th century. She then had their works replicated, to scale, to stage this otherwise impossible scenario. The sculptures wade in the water, but also yield to it, as does the whole concept of Loboda: visible, or less so, dependent on the ebb and flow of the river. It’s less of a mockery of the monetary value and more of an unconditional invitation to indulge in thinking of the double, secret, or hazardous life of sculptures […]
Language and translation of signs and meanings play an important part in Loboda’s works. Through the deconstruction and reorganization of common forms and symbols, Maria Loboda has become a unique voice in what is described as contemporary archaeology. Using household items, consumer products, cultural relics or established artworks as a starting point, the sculptor transforms them into often minimalist, yet always highly narrative investigations […] – excerpt from the essay „The Week of Living Dangerously” by Krzysztof Kościuczuk
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Maria Loboda studied at the renowned Städelschule in Frankfurt a.M., where she was a student of Mark Leckey from 2003 to 2008. She preceded her training as an artist at the Steinhardt School of Culture, New York, from 2007 to 2008. From 2015 to 2016, she taught as a guest lecturer at Hochschule der Bildenden Künste, Zurich. In 2012, she received the Edward Steichen Award, comprised of a six-month residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City. In the same year she also participated in the International Residency at Les Recollets in Paris. She received a scholarship of the Hessian Cultural Foundation for London in 2009-2010 as well as a scholarship of the Cultural Foundation of Dresdner Bank in 2010. Loboda’s wide-ranging exhibition activities encompass the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), Taipei Biennial (2014), and documenta 13 (2012). Important solo exhibitions include Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt a.M. (2018/19), Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw (2019), Kunsthalle Basel (2017), Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne (2017), The Power Plant, Toronto (2016), and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012). Furthermore, she has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including Contemporary Art Center, Singapore (2018), MADRE, Naples (2018), Modern Art Oxford (2016), Sprengel Museum Hannover (2015), Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2015), Ludlow 38, New York (2012), MMK – Museum für Moderne Kunst (2010).