2023 | beer tables | 300 cm x 220 cm | Exhibition view sitting in a tin can, galerie peripherie Tübingen 2023

The Shrine (Icon) questions the presence of the artwork in both analog and digital space, as well as its shift of meaning in society, from the icon in antiquity to the autonomy of modernity to commodity and capital investment in the present. Like a medieval Icon painting, the installation of usually down-to-earth beer tables floats under the ceiling in the corner of the exhibition space, a former brewhouse. The corner is elevated to the “Herrgottswinkel” (Lord God Angle), from which the radiant orange surface of the tables reflects their experiences of numerous festivities into the heart of the former brewery, now the exhibition space. At the same time, the work defies closer examination by its inaccessible height: the traces inscribed in the surface can only be guessed from a distance, the Icon becomes an icon – an intangible image of reality. Despite hypertopian1 accessibility in virtual space, details of the archive remain hidden; they can only be experienced in real and direct confrontation.

Curated by Kristof Georgen and Reinhard Brunner. The show was part of the programme Trüffelsuche of Künstlerbund Baden-Württemberg. Thank you also for helping with the set up to the team of technicians at Sudhaus Tübingen.