Der Geist ist ein Wasserfall
A monographic exhibition of work from 1991-2005 by German artist Klaus Weber, der Geist presents a series of social, cultural and political “fountains”.
Shown together for the first time here, they enact and magically transform ruptures in the fabric of modern life, proposing an alternative city and alternative perspectives, corrected by LSD, sidewalk mushrooms, a car crash and carnivorous plants.
Commissioned by the first Frieze Art Fair, Public Fountain LSD Hall is a delicately beautiful multi-tiered glass fountain that trickles and splashes potentised LSD beneath a ceiling of carnivorous plants. Unfolding Cul-de-Sac, is a recreation of sorts, based on Weber’s original project Brutstube on the streets of Berlin, a slab of tarmac sits on top of the gallery floor through which sidewalk mushrooms grow during the course of the exhibition. The show at Mama takes its title from an early work, itself prefiguring Weber’s preoccupations: a modest enamel bucket with der Geist ist ein Wasserfall printed onto its side, containing a rock over which water flows.
Other works to be shown include the video pieces Fountain Loma Dr/W 6th St, a documentation of a public fountain that consisted of a crashed car and a fire hydrant that appeared for one day only in downtown Los Angeles and Demo Inverse where a German police van and a humble car, equipped with loud speakers, perform a kind of choreography.
Klaus Weber was born in Sigmaringen, Germany in 1967. In 2002 he was artist in residence at Villa Aurora, Los Angeles and in 2002-3 at Delfina Studios, London. Previous exhibitions include sick fox, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York (2004); Frieze Art Fair, London (2003); Cubitt, London (2004). Group exhibitions include Communism, Project Gallery, Dublin (2005); World Watchers, Kunsthaus Dresden (2004) and Violence is at the margin of all things, Generali Foundation, Vienna (2002). Forthcoming in 2005 is a solo show at Hamburger Kunstverein and a group show at MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles.
der Geist is curated by Ian White, who is currently Adjunct Film Curator at Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, a columnist for Art Review and writer as well as working on independent projects.
About HOME
HOME is the leitmotiv by which we encourage conversation about conceptions regarding belonging, representation and identification. HOME is a fundament, the place you return to and anchorpoint for the journey onward. HOME (offline as well as online) is the start of feeling connect to others. Under the name HOME we also present exhibitions in the showroom of MAMA. In collaboration with young makers we express interpretations about HOME | IN REAL LIFE | NETWORKS.
