Architectural spaces and the appearance of building materials are the two poles between which Kilian Rüthemann develops his sculptural interventions. His point of departure is usually a concrete place whose tectonic shell provides him with the occasion to reshape it. Rüthemann works with simple substances, such as plaster, sugar or bitumen, often changing their aggregate state in the course of the creative process. Plaster is mixed with water, sugar melted with heat and then broken up when it has cooled. This gives rise to works that testify to their own mutability and transience, that occasionally embed themselves in the existing architecture, but sometimes also thwart it. By handling these simple materials in different ways, Rüthemann repeatedly tests their formal and sculptural potential. He avails himself of their variableness to reorganise space and surprise the visitors with new formations.

Kilian Rüthemann (1979 in Bütschwil, lives in Basel) trained as a stone sculptor and then studied art at the Hochschule für Kunst und Gestaltung in Basel. His works have been shown in solo exhibitions at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel, the Kunsthaus Glarus and the Istituto Svizzero di Roma. He took part in the 5th Berlin Biennale. Walking Distance* at the Künstlerhaus Bremen is Rüthemann’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany.

PROGRAM

24 June 2010, 7 p.m. Hausbesuch #10 Guided tour through the exhibition and ateliers of Claudia Christoffel und Preechaya Siripanich

Guided tours: 29 May 2010, 6 und 7 p.m.; 8 July 2010, 7 p.m.

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