Bodies that matter

Two people hug each other in front of a black background, while only the face is visible from one person and only the back from the other. Pola Sieverding On Boxing 2016 Hd Video Courtesy Pola Sieverding

March 13 – May 31 2020

Not only does the photographic image play a fundamental role in our understanding of the human body, but the use of lens-based strategies to propose "other" images of the human body and challenge the socially conditioned gaze that often determines which bodies are visible and which must remain in the dark is the means of choice for generations of artists who felt the need to question hegemonic and rigid views of this ever-present field of interest of the human body, the many discourses around it and the projections on it. 

The exhibition negotiates its concerns exclusively via projections, a permeable medium that allows images to be presented without leaving traces - this quality is carried right through to the conceptualization of the exhibition itself: Bodies That Matter is a reflection on bodies in their manifold forms, materialities and attributions.

The absent is confronted with presence, the ethereal with the material, the flesh navigates beyond the carnality and the tangible. Projected videos and photographs of what is inscribed in the body reveal a discourse on notions of body, identity, individuality and community: the exhibition offers a view of the body as a surface that makes inner and outer experiences visible and understands the body as a playground and battlefield where desires, fantasies and realities can be articulated.    

Cutout of a hand in black and white on black background. Talia Chetrit Hand On Body Breast 2012 Courtesy The Artist And Sies Höke Düsseldorf
Wolfgang Tillmans Heartbeat Armpit 2003 Video 2′27″ Farbe Ton Videostill Courtesy Of The Artist And Julia Stoschek Foundation
Two touching hands in bright colours, which merge into each other, on black background Smith Spectrographies Smith 2012 Courtesy Galerie Les Filles Du Calvaire Paris
A young man with black hair is lying on the floor topless with his arms above his head Collier Schorr From Paul’S Book Mack 2019 Courtesy Of The Artist And Mack

Partners Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf Otto Beisheim Stiftung Hoffmann Liebs Max Brown Midtown CCS