Schaf und Ruder - wool and water

Seeing Everything, Understanding Nothing Mirrors and reflections, duplications and references: these are the guiding ideas behind the catalogue “Schaf und Ruder / Wool and Water,” which accompanies the exhibition of the same title at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. The phrase quotes Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass” (1871), which follows Alice into a fascinating and surreal world of doubles and mirror images. Yet the fictional space raises concrete questions concerning our own likeness in the mirror and its interpretation as well as the fascination of the self in the virtual visual realm of the looking-glass. The show also explores our society’s image in the mirror and the cracks that have begun to appear in our vision of the human being. Numerous installation shots of works by internationally renowned artists are complemented by an essay in which the show’s curator and director of Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Gregor Jansen, offers his own wide-ranging reflections. With works by Lili Dujourie, Isa Genzken, Astrid Klein, Mischa Kuball, Aron Mehzion, Reinhard Mucha, Sturtevant, Rosemarie Trockel, and Gerhard Richter.