In the exhibition “Masks and Mirrors“ Michael Hirschbichler unfolds a system of artistic symbols – alluding to a (quasi-) ethnological collection – that leads us into seemingly foreign and bewildering realms of reality. A narcissus is mirrored by a distorted grimace forming on the surface of a dark pond. Frogs gather in front of an outpost’s threshold in the jungle of Papua New Guinea. On a closer look, ornamental wallpapers recalling 19th century aesthetics turn out to be collages of ethnographic photographs. A silvery leaden island with the outline of Lampedusa is juxtaposed by abstract mirror flags that appear like placeholders for nations still to be identified. And cow-heads, stylized in a way to become idols, keep on reappearing in different media.
It is the metaphors of the mask and the mirror that seem to emerge as focus points within this spectrum of topics and media: the mask as a shell that hides one reality in order to present another; and the mirror as an instrument that may reveal surprising insights, if used correctly, but which might in turn capture a viewer’s gaze and keep it fixed upon oneself. Both masks and mirrors are dangerous and paradoxical forms. While the mask is always bound to hide something in order to show another thing, mirrors open up new perspectives at the cost of immaterializing that which is mirrored.
In the context of the exhibition the visitors’ gazes encounter disguises and barriers, are diverted and broken in order to be reflected by and continued along other works and media. The single works thus form an interconnected symbolic system. It becomes apparent that the ‘other’ and the ‘foreign’ that are concerned are not removed from the here and now, neither temporally nor spatially.
Michael Hirschbichler (*1983 in Graz, Austria; lives and works in Munich and Zurich) studied architecture at ETH Zurich and philosophy at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Michael Hirschbichler’s solo and group exhibitions were shown among others at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Museum Helmhaus, Zurich, Haus der Architektur, Graz, art space artQ13, Rome, Museo Civico G. Fattori, Livorno, Villa Massimo, Rome, art space –ion+, Zurich, Zollhaus, Lucerne, project space MARIA HIL F at ETH Zurich, Folium, Zurich, Gallery Karin Sachs, Munich, Gallery A¦B¦C ontemporary Zurich and Artifact Gallery, New York. Michael Hirschbichler was a resident at Villa Massimo in Rome and will pursue a residency at Yarat Contemporary Art Space in Baku in 2017.

PRIVATE VIEW:
Thursday, 9 March 2017 7 PM - 9 PM

mpefm GERMANY art press release