Anne Imhof Transforms Kunsthaus Bregenz with Intimate Exhibition
We live in a time that feels increasingly apocalyptic. A war in Europe that never ends, Artificial Intelligence replacing humans in the workforce, and the global climate change with its grave impacts. Anne Imhof is not immune to these challenges. Since winning the Golden Lion for the German Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, the native of Giessen has become one of the most well-known and successful German contemporary artists. Now, the 46-year-old has taken over the Kunsthaus Bregenz (KUB). The exhibition features installations with a soundtrack, oil paintings, reliefs, and video works, but notably absent are the live performances for which Anne Imhof is famous. Instead, the show is very personal, almost intimate, and captures the mood of our time exceptionally well.
The exhibition starts with a film. In “Maria,” the artist boxes to songs from “West Side Story” towards the camera lens. It is an early self-portrait video bathed in red light. In her early 20s, Anne Imhof started karate and boxing to protect her young daughter, whom she was raising alone at the time. Several video works from the early 2000s are spread across the four floors, focusing on the artist and her chosen family, her work, and her life. Some scenes are bizarre, some funny, some touching. It becomes clear that this time, Anne Imhof herself is the performer, no other appearance is needed.
Even the title of the show, “Wish You Were Gay,” is deeply connected to her personal experiences. Growing up on the outskirts of the conservative Catholic town of Fulda as a queer person, Anne Imhof never quite fit into her previous environment. Today, the artist, who has been living in Berlin and Los Angeles for years, exudes self-confidence: cool sunglasses, white shirt, black tie, floor-length coat – this is how she appears at the press conference in Bregenz.
Anne Imhof divides exhibition spaces with glass and metal barriers, reminiscent of concert stages. She continues this practice at the KUB, splitting the hall in two on the first floor. Black steel panels at eye level block the view of most of the installation. Moving forward, visitors pass by a bench with seemingly careless sports jerseys. Behind the barricade, an apocalyptic scene unfolds: huge paintings of mushroom clouds surrounded by clouds hang on the walls. They are both beautiful and terrifying.
Describing her new paintings as “artificial and imaginary, digitally generated atomic weapons explosions in cloud landscapes,” Anne Imhof creates a room bathed in red light with a closed glass box containing a bed in the center. The video work “Zebra” accompanies this with a thundering heavy metal soundtrack. The sense of individual loneliness, abandonment, and emptiness is palpable. Anne Imhof truly fears that the world is falling apart.
In the following two floors, these massive barriers reappear, leading visitors through corridors, labyrinths, and rooms. Sound compositions, heard from the stairwell, mix singing and instrumental parts, word fragments, and rumbling noises pouring out of speakers, enhancing the dark atmosphere in the halls.
Anne Imhof works with elements from past exhibitions in Bregenz, transforming them to create something new. The huge oil paintings and reliefs are entirely new. While the reliefs depict androgynous figures gently touching each other with extremely elongated hands, the paintings are almost abstract. One painting resembles a thermal imaging camera shot, while faintly showing a figure holding a gun to their head. A dramatic gesture that has appeared in the artist’s previous works. Is it serious or just a game? There is no clear answer.
What visitors are likely to remember is the unique atmosphere at the Kunsthaus Bregenz created by Anne Imhof. Aesthetic master, Imhof plays with interior and exterior, sightlines, darkness and light, calmness, strict order, and authenticity, addressing themes of power and powerlessness, exclusion, and integration. Visitors must be willing to immerse themselves in the installations, stand in the midst of them, slowly look around, listen to the music, and feel.
Duration: until September 22, open: July/August Mon-Sun 10 am-6 pm, Thurs 10 am-8 pm, closed on Mondays. www.kunsthaus-bregenz.at