Yuri Leiderman

We proudly announce the first solo exhibition of Yuri Leiderman in Switzerland.

"Generally I don't believe in 'communication', but much more in personal particular passions (interests) which come into contact with each other and form some strange constellations."

(Yuri Leiderman, 1996, extract from a fax communication; reported in Ensemblement, the book by Le Quartier, 2004)

"Behind the willing roughness of his materials, shapes and figures, Yuri Leiderman's polymorphous and indomitable work is based on the truly eccentric movement of meanings and symbolic functions, and for this reason is most interesting." (Ch. Domino) One of the constant aspect of his work throughout the period of twenty years is the interplay with and on the functions of representation forms.

Leiderman's specific knowledge in the skill of manipulating and shifting the codes makes the succession of works a constant process of dismantling, borrowing and shifting of methods of representation from the most functional to the most artistic, the most basic to the most complex, child's play to scientific nomenclature. (see cat Ensemblement )

Places where I was happy, emerged in the late nineties, and Giving names to Kefir grains, an ongoing project, are the main pieces on show.

A frieze of about 70 photographs of places where Leiderman insists having been happy, goes around the exhibition space. Each place is valuated according to a specific ranking system. Red disks are stuck to the wall and positioned at a height determined by the level of experienced happiness. While wooden shapes of dogs, situated below the photographs, indicate a specific town.

The watercolours on show belong to a series which was executed in the context of Giving names to Kefir grains, which Leiderman started in spring 2001 while in Jerusalem. This first batch of Kefir grains was followed by a second one in Moscow. According to a specific system and rules Leiderman named the breeding kefirs. "In this sense you can relate to them as to household pets… " (Leiderman)

Leiderman is a writer and an artist whose practice has been closely related to Moscow Conceptualism. In 1987, along with Sergei Anufreev and Pavel Pepperstein, he founded the Inspection Medical Hermeneutics group, which he left in 1990. His work has been shown at prominent venues, the 1 st Manifesta in Rotterdam in 1996, the 11th Sydney Biennial in 1998, and the 50 th Venice Biennial in 2003, among many others.

His work is represented by Gallery Michel Rein, Paris and Galerija Gregor Podnar, Ljubljana. The catalogue Ensemblement, 2004, Le Quartier, is available at the gallery.

Yuri Leiderman *1963 in Odessa, lives and works in Moscow and Cologne.

Pressetext

Yuri Leiderman "Kolumbarienmaschinen"