29.5. – 21.8.2022

Daphne Ahlers

Die Würflerin

With her sculptures and objects Daphne Ahlers draws on elements and symbols of apparently firmly anchored patriarchal images and discourses and then takes these into alternative forms of expression. Her ideas and formal solutions alike address a space of thinking and action that separates the genders.

Ahlers works with the concepts of “soft sculpture,” in which mainly malleable soft materials are used, and “shell sculpture,” which is based on forms that are made to protect soft materials from external violence. She finds models and ideas for her own thoughts in historical contexts from the cultural sciences and popular culture. An example that Ahlers has used for her works is the motif of the “codpiece,” which on the one hand was an element in dominant male fashion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and on the other hand is used as a protective item in the martial arts and sports today. She makes different new variations based on this original form, adding further elements to it.

The motif of the ribbon, another object with a long cultural tradition, is also further developed in similar ways. The characteristics of these forms and their appertaining constructs are adapted in multiple revisions and variations on a theme, while also being subjected to contrary feminine perspectives. In the ways she uses the malleable, soft, and adaptable features of textiles, foam, latex, and other synthetic materials, Daphne Ahlers operates within a material approach that metaphorically appeals to our ability to change and shape social discourses.

Accompanying the exhibition is an interview with Daphne Ahlers by Melanie Ohnemus.

You can purchase the publication accompanying the exhibition here.

(Events)

Saturday, May 28, 2022, 06.00 PM

Opening Daphne Ahlers / Nicole Wermers

Wednesday, June 1, 2022, 12.30

Public guided tour and Lunch with Anne Gruber and Johanna Vieli

registration by June 31 at info@kunsthausglarus.ch

Sunday, June 19, 2022, 04.00 PM

Public guided tour with Melanie Ohnemus

Saturday, June 25, 2022, 14.00

Live-sets
Ana Jikia, Iku and Lonely Boys

An afternoon of live concerts by Ana Jikia, Iku, and Lonely Boys. From 2 - 6 pm. The performances will take place in an installation-based setting designed by Lonely Boys.

Iku (Johanna Ordersky, Lausanne/Berlin) works within the genre of spherical music and also has an artistic practice in sculpture. In her music, Iku weaves samples into a network of emotionally dense, melancholic sounds. Her early releases were produced as ambient tracks, but now she often features her own, Autotune-enhanced voice.

https://soundcloud.com/ikukojohanna

Ana Jikia (Basel/Tbilisi) also works with samples. She breaks up harmonious, classical sounds using unpredictable, dark snippets of sound that morph into club music whose techno beats Jikia then underlays with spherical sounds. Ana Jikia is a producer and DJ, but also has a visual-arts practice.

https://soundcloud.com/waterdragon00

Lonely Boys (Berlin/Vienna) are Daphne Ahlers and Rosa Rendl. The artpop-duo is known for their manipulations of voice and multiplication of identities. Through the sincerity of pop sentiment they create an unmistakably honest expression of love and feeling. Their over-emotional pop-songs are built around a raw instrumental base and laconic lyrics that emphasize on sexual dynamics and fission. This year they will come out with a double LP including new tracks of the duo as well as unreleased solo material.

https://soundcloud.com/lonelyboys

This events is kindly sponsored by Initiative Musik gGmbH, Migros Kulturprozent, Daniel Jenny & Co.

Sunday, June 26, 2022, 04.00 PM

Dialog guided tour with Daphne Ahlers and Melanie Ohnemus

Daphne Ahlers has developed new works for her exhibition Die Würflerin and presents them in a site specific setting. The conversation between Daphne Ahlers and Melanie Ohnemus will take place in the exhibition space.

Thursday, June 30, 2022, 06.00 PM

View of the collection with Axelle Stiefel, artist

Axelle Stiefel presents works from the collections around themes of care work and invisible work structures. Please join us for a discussion that reconsiders the selected works in a new light.

Thursday, July 7, 2022, 06.00 PM

Public guided tour with Johanna Vieli

Thursday, August 11, 2022, 06.00 PM

View of the collection with Sveta Mordovskaya, artist

Please join us for Sveta Mordovskaya’s presentation of sculptures from the collections and discussion on body images from different historical contexts.

On the occasion of Daphne Ahlers. Die Würflerin and Nicole Wermers. Reclining Fanmail, May 29–August 21, 2022.