KRISTALLISATIONSPUNKTE
SALZ UND ZUCKER IN DER KUNST
Crystallization Points: Salt and Sugar in Art
24.03. – 02.06.24
Kunstmuseum Heidenheim
Marienstraße 4
89518 Heidenheim a. d. Brenz, Germany
Artists:
Christine Braun, Jonas Etter, Takaya Fujii, Helga Franz, Fabian Gatermann, Patricija Gilyte, Fadi al-Hamwi, Nadine Karl, Alice Musiol, Elia Nurvista, Thomas Rentmeister, Tiago Sant’Ana, Johanna Strobel, Kees de Vries, Heidemarie Ziebandt
The exhibition examines two products one would normally expect to find in the kitchen: salt and sugar. Yet both also function as materials from which artworks can be created. The exhibition in the main hall of the Kunstmuseum highlights two tendencies in the artistic use of these crystalline substances.
On the one hand, salt and sugar are employed as sculptural materials. Their chemical structure offers multiple perspectives: dissolved in water, compressed into solid form, crystallizing, colored, fired, baked, or used as a granular mass, both salt and sugar can assume diverse states and thus open up reflections on sculptural questions.
On the other hand, the exhibition also foregrounds their symbolic and political implications. Salt, for example, is an essential element for life. It may be regarded as vital, yet salt deserts stand for deprivation and hostility to life. Sugar, by contrast, points to prosperity, consumption, and pleasure, but also to greed and exploitation. Before it could be produced industrially from sugar beets, sugar was obtained from sugarcane. The history of this sweetener is therefore closely linked to colonial exploitation.
The aim of the exhibition is to demonstrate the multifaceted roles these elements play in art and society, and to encourage the audience to reflect on their significance and symbolism within our culture.
Text: Marco Hompes, artistic director and curator of the exhibition, 2024
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