Nairy Baghramian: Breath Holding Spell — Exploring Contemporary Sculpture and Installation Art

This exhibition showcases the work of Nairy Baghramian, a prominent contemporary sculptor. It features site-specific installations and sculptures that explore the relationship between the body, art production, materials, and context.

Nairy Baghramian, recognized as one of the most significant sculptors of her generation, presents an exhibition at the Secession that delves into fundamental questions of art production. Her work often begins with the fragmented human body and explores the relationship between creation and reception, image and framing, and object and pedestal. Through site-specific installations, fragile sculptures requiring support, drawings, and photographic works, Baghramian challenges conventions of assertive poses and claims of permanence. Her artistic language, drawing from post-minimalism and conceptual art, utilizes abstraction to negotiate complex issues, which she terms 'ambivalent abstraction.' Her interventions are consistently linked to the architecture, history, and social context of the exhibition venue, approaching the space from its peripheries and marking a presence rather than dominating it. The exhibition includes diverse materials such as aluminum, glass, pigmented wax, marble, porcelain, cork, polyurethane, and epoxy resin. Organic forms interlock, support, and lean on each other, subtly displaying their mutual dependence. Prosthetic-like supports and clamps emphasize the correlation and interdependence of objects, allowing perceived flaws to remain integral to the work, as Baghramian states, 'My sculptures should formulate the doubts about them.' This vulnerability is underscored by the auxiliary constructions, hinting at their conceptual temporality and mutability. Works from her series 'Dwindlers' and 'Breath Holding Spells,' which lends its title to the exhibition, respond to the specific spatial conditions, creating what appears to be a circulatory system with exposed, partly dysfunctional pipes. New works like 'Deep Furrow,' a multi-part wall piece, and 'The Pincher,' a photographic work, further extend these conceptual explorations into systems, tools, and potential interventions.

Ticketing information is available via a link to the Secession's online shop. General museum admission details are also provided on the website, suggesting that exhibition entry may be tied to general admission or require separate booking for special events or publications. Information on tickets and admission can be found on the Secession's website, with a direct link provided for purchasing tickets and related publications.