Oskar Schmidt – lautlos*

An exhibition of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.
07. November to 14. December 2019
from Wednesday to Saturday, 2 – 6 p.m.

“I didn’t want to be narrative or documentary” Oskar Schmidt once said and he seems to remain true to this motto, even with this small, fine exhibition. “Silently” is divided into a series of closely consecutive shows at the Galerie Tobias Naehring in Leipzig with new works created in São Paulo and at Grisebach with a small overview of this still young but already recognizable work. Oskar Schmidt is a perfectionist, in love with quality and detail, and only this absolute accuracy makes possible what is to be reflected in the exhibition titles: To create echo spaces, to design emotional environments in which the maximum of silence prevails, in which the depicted (or more precisely: depicting) figures lead the viewer to themselves silently because of their breathtaking, extremely exhausted aesthetics.

But this path would be quick to find and easy to forget if there were not another level, an ambivalence that stems from the fact that in silence it remains open whether the figures are self-determined or externally controlled. In this exhibition at B-Part Am Gleisdreieck, we wanted to show that this question is still relevant. Almost iconographic arrangements are reminiscent of art historical models, but question our Eurocentric perspective. Figures that for a long time were reserved only for the periphery of art history are moved to the center.

The digital pictorial background refuses any allocation to contexts; nature and architecture do not take place. Perhaps this could create clarity, dare a design, just as this place at the triangle of tracks does and therefore offers the ideal backdrop for this performance. Architecture surrounds, creates identity, installs or solves questions of power.

The intimate show makes it possible to bring the silent world to a place of international urbanity – or vice versa. Either way: In any case, it is about an inspiring concentration, a collection that brings knowledge; an encounter that can never be merely narrative or merely documentary.

Curated by Dr. Hans-Jörg Clement
Head of Culture of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung