Angelika Loderer: Exploring Materiality and Ephemeral Art in Sculpture

This exhibition showcases the works of Angelika Loderer, focusing on her 'media-reflexive sculptures' that explore material properties and processing. The exhibition features new sand sculptures and image objects created from fungal mycelium, highlighting the dialogue between durability and ephemerality.

The works of Angelika Loderer are characterized by her exploration of material properties and processing, creating what can be described as 'media-reflexive sculptures.' Her pieces often utilize metals, wax, and specialized casting sand, a material crucial for mold-making that remains invisible in the final work. Loderer elevates these auxiliary materials into primary mediums, constructing fragile and temporary sculptures that engage in a paradoxical dialogue between the durability of metal and the ephemerality of the casting process. The exhibition in the Grafisches Kabinett prominently features new sand sculptures and image objects realized through recent experiments with mushroom mycelium. Initially, drawings of rammed sand sculptures guided the new series, where Loderer combines casting sand in three different qualities with custom metal structures to form delicate, temporary formations. Her approach often integrates unusual material combinations and found objects, incorporating chance as a significant element in her creative process. The inherent limitations of sand, despite its malleability, create a dynamic tension between artistic intention and material possibilities. Loderer's interest in processes beyond her direct control also led to experiments with a mixture of mushroom spores and wood chips. This resulted in a series of 'performative images,' initially intended for an artist's book, which similarly arise from the interaction of two materials and the influence of chance. Found plexiglass boxes were filled with a mycelium-wood mixture, and photographs were integrated. Over several weeks, Loderer documented the growth and interconnection of fungal spores, observing the transformation of the photographs through moisture and fungal growth. This series evolved into large-format image objects for the exhibition: a pixelated internet image, significantly enlarged, depicts a equestrian monument with numerous casting channels, directly referencing the sand sculptures. A second, abstract image shows the gradual merging of mycelium and a perforated structure mat. As the exhibition progresses, the mycelial network becomes more visible, causing the images to change significantly, contrasting with the fragility and temporality of the sand sculptures. Loderer's sculptures exemplify the interplay between the momentary and the permanent, and the ambivalence of value, transience, and meaning, while also questioning value attributions by adorning simple, everyday forms with precious materials.

Information about the exhibition can be found alongside general ticketing details for the Secession. Visitors can purchase tickets through the provided link, and the venue is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 AM to 6 PM. General museum admission information is available, but specific exhibition ticketing requirements are not detailed beyond the general ticket link for the venue. The page also mentions 'Informationen & Tickets' as a separate navigation item, suggesting further details are available elsewhere on the site but not directly on this page for this specific exhibition beyond a general booking link for the Secession itself. The provided link leads to a general ticket shop for the Secession, not specific to this exhibition's pricing or policies directly on this page. No prices or specific entry requirements for this exhibition are listed here, only a general ticketing portal for the venue is referenced as "tickets". The exhibition runs from February 2nd to March 26th, 2017, and is part of the regular exhibition programming at the Secession, which is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 6 PM. Visitors are directed to a general ticketing portal for the Secession for admission information and purchases. No specific pricing or booking details for this exhibition are provided on this page, only a reference to the venue's ticketing system and opening hours.