Curt Walter (artist)
Curt Walter , born as Kurt Walter Heusser (born June 12, 1949 in Wetzikon , ZH), is a Swiss concept and action artist. Further pseudonyms are Curt Walter Tannhäuser , Hütti or Curtt .
Live and act
Curt Walter grew up with his brother in poor and broken circumstances. His physically disabled father from Bäretswil was Heinrich Heusser († 2007), his mother was Anna Katharina Tanner († 1992), from Haslen , Appenzell.
He attended elementary school in Kempten and secondary school in Wetzikon . He then completed an apprenticeship as a chef at the Hotel Sonne in Küsnacht . Due to disagreements with the chef, he continued his apprenticeship in the restaurant at the Urania observatory in Zurich and passed his exam. He then went to England and attended the Anglo-Continental School of English in Bournemouth and then from 1969 to 1971 the Burghof Commercial School in Rapperswil .
From 1971 he worked for the Comte de Morelos in Meudon near Paris as a cook and waiter in his private villa and learned the French language in the Alliance française in Paris, where he met Peter Szabò, the son of the sculptor Làszlo Szabò . After a few months of renovation without a budget in and around Ravenel Castle and the three studios in Paris (Rue Delambre 21, Rue Daguerre and Rue de la Tombe Issoire), they jointly organized the reopening of the Academie du feu , which the sculptor Szabò copied in 1968 the Cultural Revolution had left. 1973–1974 Walter was a speaker and organizer of the Académie du feu . He enrolled at the Paris École des beaux-arts in 1973 . From 1973 to 1976 he studied sculpture and plastic design with Étienne Martin . He contradicted Martin because he had developed his own view and concept for sculpture and gave up empirical studies of nature.
In between he traveled with Szabò through Germany and Hungary as a student and assistant and became his master student. He organized various exhibitions for Szabò. There were monumental sculptures in the grounds and in Terminal Mitte at Frankfurt Airport (1973) in Hanover Airport (1975) and in 1973 in the Mannheim Art Gallery . He worked on various orders from Szabò, such as B. on the works "Sun God", "Flying Fish", "Urtier" and "Firebird".
From 1975 he went on a six-month study trip to North America and Mexico. In Colorado Springs , he modeled the portrait of Mayor Larry Ochs in clay. Together with the painter Java (Winnie Bryant) and her son, he traveled to the Mayan temples in Guatemala and Yucatan . In 1976 they survived a 3-week earthquake in Panajachel on Lake Atitlàn . They were locked up for three weeks and had to endure 640 eruptions.
Back in Germany, they moved into a studio in the Mönchbruch hunting lodge in Mörfelden-Walldorf for a few months. In 1977 they moved to Elburg in Holland and moved into a studio in a listed thatched cottage .
Walter has been working as a freelance artist since 1975 and began his first work in the Netherlands in sand, earth, road and sea works, fictional villages, ruins on islands, in Elburg, Lac de St. Monde, Paris, Nicolasee and Lietzensee , Berlin and Lanzarote , Spain . His increasing public presence was evident in his works in the Iphigenie clay pit in Breitscheid / Lauterbach , where he tried to translate the "Book of Changes", I Ching , Yi ‑ jing into plastic form. In 1979 he moved into the clay pit with his tent and tools. The result was a miniature ruined city, "City of Change", ø 12 meters from 12 different colored clay which he found in various clay pits in the Westerwald , which he converted into mini building material on site. He left the city to nature. The second miniature city was the "City of Earth People" in the Erdbach quarry, which was also shown at the Federal Garden Show in Kassel . In 1981 the "City of Water People" was created in the State Museum in Koblenz . In the same year he won the "Künstlerbahnhof Ebernburg" scholarship in Bad Münster am Stein . He and his Thai assistant Paisit built the "Wishing Well".
In 1981 Walter settled in Wetzikon (ZH) and then in Zurich. In 1986 he met his partner Jsabella Gnos, a dancer and performance artist. He later moved into a studio in an old house with a garden in Monte / Ticino and was co-founder of the MonteArte art association in 2002 .
Works
Action masquerade
Between 1981 and 1985 Walter initiated the artistic action Masquerade: an artistic staged poll of 3,168 people. He was concerned with the subject of “mass”. With a mass of 6,000 closed eyes, he wanted to provoke a frontal confrontation with the viewer. He was inspired by the book Mass and Power by Elias Canetti . "Don't look - look" "was the basic concept, whereby the viewers looked at 3000 terracotta faces with closed eyes. At over 70 events in Switzerland and Germany he modeled with Vaseline and plaster bandages directly from the face. Every finest sensibility, facial expressions of the" models "Were held in plaster cast. People from all social classes, nationalities and all age groups from around the age of two took part. The most famous participants included Claude Nobs , Baby Consuelo do Brasil, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Dee Dee Bridgewater's daughter The action should set an example for peace and against terror , military threat, torture and harassment .
In the “Archive of Feelings” Walter put 3168 green index cards on the people he modeled with their names, first names, address, year of birth.
The 3168 plaster casts were repeatedly used for various installations in exhibitions. For example in 1996 in the Werkhof Galerie in Zurich, where he nailed them to the walls in the attic, where they could be viewed in the dark with flashlights.
Fluxus , bread papers
In 1986 Walter took part in the last happening of the Fluxus movement at the Kunstverein Hamburg with Robert Filliou , Nam June Paik , Joseph Beuys , Meret Oppenheim , Christo, among others . On the occasion of the Chernobyl tragedy, he painted hundreds of pictures on tissue paper . The "bread papers" were shown in an exhibition from 1986 to 1987.
painting
From 1988 to 1992 Walter developed new forms of artistic expression in painting and various techniques in pyro painting. He seared the canvases with water and fire instead of applying material to the picture carrier. The Atelier am Wasser in Zurich showed a selection of these "fire panels", the exhibition was filmed by the Zurich Culture Taxi.
ZHart
In 1996, Walter founded the art association ZHart in Zurich with other artists . Some projects were supported by the City of Zurich in public space, for example the project "Pictures in the River", where a large screen was attached to the bridge pillar in the Limmat and a film was projected onto it.
Art Association MonteArte
In 2002 Walter founded the art association MonteArte in Monte (Ticino) with a few colleagues , which organized various projects every year. So in 2002 "monte incontra artisti e amici", 2003 NoWaterWater, his artistic initiative on the subject of "flooding and water shortages". around 200 artists responded to his call for a Mailart exhibition at the source shrine "Madonna di Lourdes". Incontrarsi, incantarsi with Klaus Merz , Alberto Nessi , Fabio Pusterla , Anna Felder , Erminio Ferrari, Gertrud Leutenegger , Alessandro Perissinotto and Peter Weber were literary walks in the Valle di Muggio 2004. In "Visioni sul Monte" 2006 he showed the interactive installation "Generosa Enterprise "which he developed in 2005 with Beat Siegner from the Global Information Systems Group at ETH Zurich and which he presented in the context of the exhibition" Worlds of Knowledge "150 years of ETH Zurich in 2005 at Platzspitz Zurich. "In ... boscamento" with Benno Meuwly was a 2007 project where they projected images from the forest onto facades in the municipality of Monte with 45 conventional slide projectors . In 2008, the "Lux Pons" project with Benno Meuwly emerged, with 49 projections and two sound installations in no man's land on the border between Switzerland and Italy in Ponte Chiasso -Chiasso during BI6 | Biennale dell'immagine, Chiasso. In 2012 "Ultima cena?" part # 1 with Harald Mol and 2014 "Ultima cena?" part # 2. These two projects were artistic interventions to artistically counter the helplessness and powerlessness of the global food trade and the questionable use of natural resources. Ultima cena? part # 2 was an exhibition in different locations in Monte with 14 artists from the region and abroad.
Chance, method, material
Most of the projects and works were created through the chance operations from the book of changes, I Ching . Again and again he leaves the beaten path with his artistic practice in order to enter a new, unprecedented intrinsic perspective. His artistic research is based on strategies by breaking down the boundaries between retina , space of perception and space of art. He subversively infiltrates traditional materials science and technology and the classic museum forms of presentation of sculpture, sculpture and painting. Walter realizes the random phenomena on the basis of the Yi Jing - I Ching - The Book of Changes by Richard Wilhelm and Rudolf Ritsema. Six coin flips create a hexagram of six lines. As a result, certain oracle texts and images are determined that give the artist the inspiration for a work of art or project. The first sketches or drawings are then made of how a work could be implemented. He also determines the material with the coin toss. His preferred materials are clay, plaster of paris in plastic form.
Projects
- 1979: "City of Change", Iphigenie clay pit, Breitscheid .
- 1980: "City of Earth People", State Museum Koblenz . City of Earth People, Erdbach quarry , Germany
- 1981–1986: "Action Masquerade", an artistically staged referendum. He modeled a plaster cast of the face of 3,168 people.
- 2000: "Hors Sol", 1st Triennial of Sculpture, Bad Ragartz, Bad Ragaz , 7 installations
- 2003: "noWaterWater", Art Association MonteArte, Monte, installations, contemporary dance, choreography Jsabella Gnos
- 2005. "Generosa Enterprise", ETH, Zurich , interactive installation
- 2007: Light project “in ... boscamento” in Monte
- 2008: Project “Lux Pons”, Bi6, Biennale dell'immagine Chiasso
- 2009-10: Project “in between”, MEWO , Kunsthalle Memmingen , Germany
- 2010: "Manca qualcosa! Dove siete?", Art Association lo spirito del Lago, Isola Bella , installation
- 2012: "Ultima cena?" part # 1, Kunstverein MonteArte, Monte, TI, Switzerland, light installation
- 2013: Installation "Public toilet", RothusHalle, Solothurn , as part of the exhibition MAHLZEIT! When is enough enough?
Exhibitions (selection)
Solo exhibitions
- 1978: Every day an artistic idea, every day a sculpture, art in public space, Elburg NL, sculptures. Sand, earth, road and sea work, fictional villages, ruins on islands, art in public spaces, Elburg, Lac de St. Mondé, Paris; Nicolasee and Litezensee , Berlin , Lanzarote , street art
- 1979: "City of Change", Iphigenie clay pit, Breitscheid . The I Ching implemented in plastic form
- 1980: "City of Earth People", State Museum Koblenz. City of Earth People, Erdbach quarry, Germany
- 1981: "City of Change", artist station Bad Münster am Stein and Wishing Well, artist station Bad Münster a. Stone, fountain design Wishing Well
- 1987: "Bread Papers", Stummer Gallery, Zurich, from the Bread Papers group of works. "... I show my harvest", Atelier Zollikon , from the group of bread papers
- 1994: "Case", Atelier Schlieren, processed Omega watches, "bread paper" and "record games", Rövekamp Gallery, Zurich
- 1996: Exhibition in the studio, Monte, my collection. "Banquet of Colors", Saxon Academy, Dresden, Poetry of Colors. "Dissolution", Homeopathic Practice Spycher, oil painting. "Sculpture morte", Werkhof Galerie, Zurich, installation 3168 faces in plaster
- 2001: "Portable Museums" and "I'me", Sala del Torchio, Balerna , paintings, sculptures
- 2002: "Fire panels", Finter Bank, Chiasso, painting. "Luce sotto la pelle", Isole di Brissago, 4 installations
- 2010–2014: Permanent exhibition, Visibel Gallery, Zurich, painting, sculpture, photography
Group exhibitions
- 1974: "Tree of Life", M ainz Town Hall , with Laszlo Szabo
- 1982: "Self-Portrait", Zürcher Oberländer , Grüningen Castle
- 1981–1986: "Action Masquerade", artistically staged referendum. He modeled a plaster cast of the face of 3,168 people, children, women and men
- 1985: "Tränkeplatz", Skulptura ›85, Zollikon , installation
- 1986: "Drawings, Project Sketches", Towards a Biennale of Peace, Kunsthalle Hamburg , Rene Block and Robert Filliou u. a.
- 1989: "I Fall to Pieces, Restless, Liberty in all doubt, Welcome to paradise", Museum Fodor Amsterdam , Fax-art at Art meets science and spirituality in a changing economy.
- 1996–1998: Art Association "ZHart", City of Zurich, various art projects in public space in the city of Zurich
- 2000: Hors Sol , 1st Triennial of Sculpture, Bad Ragartz, Bad Ragaz , 7 installations
- 2005: "Generosa Enterprise", ETH, Zurich , interactive installation
- 2008: "Lux Pons", Bi6, Biennale dell'immagine, Chiasso , Cultura Chiasso
- 2010: "in between", MEWO, Kunsthalle Memmingen , installation with 2226 facial casts in plaster
- 2013: Installation "Public toilet", RothusHalle, Solothurn , as part of the exhibition MAHLZEIT! When is enough enough?
Projects with art funding (selection)
- 1990: Collages and drawings for Fax Exhibition: Art meets science and spirituality in a changing economy, Museum Fodor, Amsterdam . Funded by “ Pro Helvetia ”, Switzerland
- 2000: Project Hors Sol in the old village bath, 1st Swiss Triennial of Sculpture, Bad Ragaz | Funded by Esther and Rolf Hohmeister, Bad Ragaz
- 2002: “Luce sotto la pelle” project, Isole di Brissago , Ticino | Funded by: Repubblica e Canton Ticino , Swisslos
- 2007: Light project “in ... boscamento” in Monte | Funded by: Comune, Castel san Pietro | Repubblica e Cantone Ticino , Swisslos | Ernst Göhner Foundation , Zug | Duck touristico Mendrisiotto | Casino, Mendrisio | raiffeisen, Castel san Petro | Brinus SA, Balerna | Fondazione dell´esposizione nazionale svizzera 1939 | Regione Valle di Muggio | Chicco d'Oro, Balerna | Restaurante, Conca Bella, Vacallo | Borgovecchio, Balerna | Progetto Stampa, Chiasso | Init Seven, Zurich for Webhosting, MonteArte | Banca popolare di Sondrio, Chiasso
- 2008: Project “Lux Pons” with Benno Meuwly | 49 projectors | 3 Towers | 2 tone installations in the no mens land | Frontiera Svizzera - Italia, Customs Chiasso - Ponte Chiasso | Bi6, Biennale dell'immagine Chiasso | Publ.: Http://www.chiassocultura.ch/index.php?id=312 | Funded by: Comune di Chiasso and the 6th Biennale dell'immagine, Chiasso
- 2009-10: Project “in between”, MEWO, Kunsthalle Memmingen , “Manca qualcosa! Dove siete?”, Art Association Lo spirito del lago, Stresa , Italy. Funded by: Repubblica e Canton Ticino, Swisslos
- 2010: “Torrid Landscape”, video installation for the 13th Festival di cultura e musica jazz Fuego! in Chiasso, Switzerland. Funded by: Dicastero Culturale di Chiasso
Video and audio
- Hors Sol project in the old village pool of Bad Ragatz, 7 light and sound installations
- 2010: DVD, Torrid Landscape, Cultura Chiasso
Movies
- 1996: Video, "Hold out", Werkgalerie Zurich
- Video "Also a way", Institute for Scientific Photography, Weissenstein Castle Germany,
- 1986: Film: "Homage to the Blitztoten", RSI Lugano (ViaVai)
- 1981: Film: "City of Earth People", Erdbach quarry, Germany, aspects ZDF
- 2020: Film: "Synchronized with the wind", USA Performance Jsabella Gnos, Zurich
Publications
- Cover design for CD by the band Radio Osaka from Zurich, X FADE, Zurich 1992 http://www.radio-osaka.ch/cds/x-fade.php
- In ... boscamento , exhibition catalog, German and Italian, Verlag Salvioni, Bellinzona 2010, ISBN 978-88-7967-288-7 .
- enjoy the meal! When is enough enough? Catalog, Rothus Halle, Solothurn, 2013 ISBN 978-3-906060-11-8
- Book EXPOMAT , Edition Patrick Frey, Zurich 2002, page 108, 2234
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://curtwalter.ch/Maskerade_1981-1985.html
- ↑ 1987 From the group of works "Bread Papers": Galerie Stummer, Zurich; Atelier Zollikon; Parish hall, Zollikon; Rövekamp Gallery, Zurich. "Pyropeinture", Daniel Müller, Basel, from the work group Brandtafeln.
- ↑ "City of the earth people," broadcast in aspects ZDF, 01/07/80
- ↑ Zurich Oberland, October 6, 1982 | DZO, Pd, 11/16/82 | Anzeiger von Uster, wx, 01/28/83, Stei | Schwyzer Zeitung, 02/25/83, 02/22/83 | Messenger of Urschweiz, 02/23/83 | Factory newspaper, August 83 | Zolliker Bote, 07/29/83, 12/9/83, Astrid Rodel, 01/13/84, 01/20/84, 03/29/85 | New Wiler Tagblatt, U. Tiefenauer, 09/12/83 | EineZwänzgi, Maia Schmid, 09/28/83 | DZO, 01/24/83 | L'est voudois, V. Désarzens, 07/17/84 | Züri Week, Hanspeter Vetsch, 08/16/84 | OMNI, Nov. 84 | Badener Tagblatt, EF, 03/23/85 | Border post on Lake Zurich, 25.03.85 | Zürichsee Zeitung, hn, 25.03.85 | General gazette of Lake Zurich, 25.03.85 | Fatherland, 03/28/85 | Thurgauer Volksfreund, 23.03.85 | Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, 23.03.85 | Tages-Anzeiger, dö, 23.03.85 | Neue Zürcher Zeitung, bi, 23.03.85 | Thurgauer Tagblatt, 23.03.85 | St. Galler Volksblatt, 25.03.85 | Le Matin, 3.05.85, Françoise Jannin | Report 2/85, Urs Tiefenauer | Marco 1/86. http://www.curtwalter.ch/curt_walter/Maskerade_1981-1985.html
- ↑ Catalog: Dr. Rolf Hohmeister, text: Dr. Maria Buchsbaum and Valéria Jakob Tschui | WOZ 07/20/2000 | Ticino newspaper | Sarganser Lands, Pius Dudler
- ↑ http://montearte.ch/ita/2003.html
- ↑ 'Generosa Enterprise', ETH Zurich at 150 years of ETH Zurich. Website: http://archiv.ethlife.ethz.ch/articles/jubil2005/generosa.html
- ↑ http://www.montearte.ch/ | http://montearte.blogspot.com/ | Agricoltore Ticinese, number 40 | Ticino7, number 37 | Ticino newspaper | Informatore, 09/12/07 | Giornale del | Corriere del Ticino, 09/14/07 | Azione, 09/25/07 | Film from TV TSI | Radio interview with Irene Petraglio, RTSI 2 | Quotidiano, TV TSI from 09/15/07
- ↑ 2010 "In ... boscamento", exhibition catalog, German and Italian, Verlag Salvioni, Bellinzona, ISBN 978-88-7967-288-7 . Kunsthaus Zürich, http://opac.kunsthaus.ch/LIBERO/WebOpac.cls?VERSION=2&ACTION=DISPLAY&RSN=106943&DATA=ZUR&TOKEN=sYJFHVqjIL7147&Z=1&SET=1
- ↑ http://www.curtwalter.ch//08.html
- ↑ http://www.curtwalter.ch/09.html
- ↑ http://www.curtwalter.ch/10.html
- ↑ http://www.curtwalter.ch/12.html , http://www.montearte.ch/ita/2012.html
- ↑ http://www.curtwalter.ch/13_public_toilet.html
- ↑ 1996 Video, "Hold out", Werkgalerie Zürich
- ^ Website Curt Walter: 7 light, sound, sculpture installations. Retrieved June 11, 2020 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Walter, Curt |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Heusser, Kurt Walter (maiden name); Tannhäuser, Curt Walter (pseudonym); Hütti (pseudonym); Curtt (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss concept and action artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 12, 1949 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wetzikon , ZH |