Rivane Neuenschwander is included in ‘Emma Kunz Cosmos: A Visionary in Dialogue with Contemporary Art’
‘Emma Kunz Cosmos: A Visionary in Dialogue with Contemporary Art’ is a group exhibition at Aargauer Kunsthaus, Switzerland that presents the oeuvre of the Aargau researcher, healer and artist Emma Kunz (1892–1963) alongside contemporary artistic practises.
The exhibition situates Kunz’s drawings and activities as a healer in dialogue with the work and positions of artists Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Eitan Efrat & Sirah Foighel Brutmann, Athene Galiciadis, Florian Graf, Joachim Koester, Goshka Macuga, Shana Moulton, Rivane Neuenschwander, Mai-Thu Perret, Lea Porsager, Tabita Rezaire, Mathilde Rosier and Lauryn Youden.
Kunz based her drawings on questions that she drew on graph paper with the use of a pendulum. Throughout her works she explored repetition and transformation, reusing and appropriating elements of finished drawings in new works. This exhibition includes over sixty of these drawings, many of which are being shown for the first time. Viewed together, recently produced works by contemporary artists prompt a reconsideration of Kunz’s forward thinking and expansive works.
Included in the exhibition are a selection of capes from Rivane Neuenschwander's 2015 project, 'The Name of Fear' at Whitechapel Gallery, London. This body of work explores childhood fears through a series of vibrant handmade capes that combines elements of drawing, textiles, design, performance and writing. The artist worked with children aged 7 to 9 from across London to gather a collection of fears – ranging from ‘heights’ and ‘bees’, to ‘strangers’ and ‘nightmares’, and the more abstract ‘silence’. Neuenschwander then translated the children’s drawings and texts into fabric cape designs. Associated with protection and supernatural power, the capes also echo the artists’ interest in folk traditions, children’s literature, nature, psychoanalysis, and in the rich history of modern art in her native country.
