Press release TONI SCHMALE HOT HOT HOT September 14 November 5, 2017 Press conference: Wednesday, September 13, 2017, 10 a.m. Opening: Wednesday, September 13, 2017, 7 p.m. Encompassing sculptures as well as performative interventions, video pieces, and graphic art, the work of Toni Schmale scrutinizes social power relations and a hegemonic society s stereotypical gender roles, which she counters with gender-political utopias served up with characteristically sly humor masking radical dauntlessness. Her metal, concrete, and rubber sculptures have the air of a fleet of dysfunctional machines while also calling up associations of fitness equipment and torture instruments, surveying a wide terrain crisscrossed by desires, from the yearning for physical perfection to practices of sexual gratification. In her exhibition HOT HOT HOT, Schmale presents a series of new sculptural works she describes as transitional objects, an idea lifted from the theories of the psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, whose work the artist has studied extensively. She is interested in the peculiar something that is part neither of the self nor of the other, instead marking a connection between the inner world and outward reality. An architectural intervention lends emphasis to the idea of transition: a long, empty corridor stretches before the visitor; at its far end, an opening on the left leads into the brightly illuminated gallery with the ensemble of sculptures a gradual approach to the work staged as an extended intro. Visual echoes of treadmills or strength training equipment, though the formal vocabulary is simplified and abstract, and the placement of the objects in the gallery space bring the various stations at a gym to mind. Titles such as dipstation, ach ach ach, hot hot hot, and das management reinforce this loose-knit narrative of a workout. One characteristic feature of the ensemble is the palpable interconnectedness of the objects. The semblance of communication between them derives from affinities and variations of material and form, from ostensible repetition and subtle deviation. Surface treatments such as sanding and burnishing effectively conceal qualitative differences between materials; the objects, moreover, mimic each other, tune in to each other, most markedly in the motif of the doppelganger. Deeply aware of the power of repetition, the artist, a former competitive athlete, deftly plays with monotony. Yet all similarities notwithstanding, each object still has its own identity, a distinctive character, resulting in a certain tension when they share the stage. The exhibition s title is a multifaceted allusion to the process of making the works: generally, to the very high temperatures required in metalworking or the act of heating an object. More specifically, to the tempering of metal, a process in which heat hardens the material. Depending on the duration and 1
temperature, the metal takes on a different color, from yellow to red and a bluish purple. This superficial alteration results from a structural modification of the material s properties and speaks to the stress to which it was exposed. In industrial metallurgy, these outcomes are avoided not least because the discoloration renders the metal more prone to corrosion, making it useless for commercial purposes but to Toni Schmale they are of creative interest. In her artistic interpretation of the idea of the transitional object, Schmale accordingly attaches great importance to the highly sophisticated construction of her sculptures: each is composed of multiple small parts held together by invisible push-fit connections. This mode of construction enables the artist to manipulate the heavy objects made of stainless steel, other metals, and concrete without assistance if need be they adapt to the skills of the individual creator. Toni Schmale, born in 1980 in Hamburg, lives and works in Vienna. The exhibition program is conceived by the board of the Secession. Curator: Jeanette Pacher Solo exhibitions (selection) 2017 the good enough mother, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead 2015 TONI SCHMALE SUPEREGO, ngbk, Berlin; feuerbock, Neuer Kunstverein, Vienna 2014 streckbank martha, One Work Gallery, Vienna 2012 fisting, L Ocean Licker, Vienna Group exhibitions (selection) 2017 Spiegelnde Fenster. Reflexionen von Welt und Selbst, 21er Haus, Vienna; Work it, feel it!, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Oh Jakob Lena Knebl und die mumok Sammlung, mumok, Vienna 2016 Bingo, ASPN Galerie, Leipsic; The Pleasure of Love, 56th October Salon, Belgrad Biennale, Belgrad 2015 In the Still of the Night, KÖR, Esterhazypark, Vienna; The School of Kyiv, Kyiv Biennale, Kyiv; Self-Timer Stories, MUSAC, León 2014 A TIME FOR DREAMS, International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow Museum, Moscow 2013 is my territory, Christine König Galerie, Vienna 2006 Das achte Feld Geschlechter, Leben und Begehren in der Kunst seit 1960, Museum Ludwig, Cologne Curator s tour Friday, October 13, 2017, 5 p.m. With the curators Bettina Spörr and Jeanette Pacher threw the exhibtions by Nicole Eisenman and Toni Schmale 2
Publication TONI SCHMALE 2018 is a locker calendar the artist designed in collaboration with the artist and fashion designer Wally Salner and the photographer Maria Ziegelböck. It is published in a limited edition on occasion of the exhibition. Toni Schmale 2018 Pin-up calendar Edition of 300 Size: 205x310 mm Concept: Wally Salner for Toni Schmale Secession 2017 EUR 25,- Press images Installation views are available for download: www.secession.at/en/presstype/aktuell Press contact Susanne Fernandes Silva T. +43 1 587 53 07-10 F. +43 1 587 53 07-34 E-Mail: presse@secession.at secession Wiener Secession, Association of Visual Artists Friedrichstraße 12, A-1010 Vienna, Austria T. +43-1-587 53 07, F. +43-1-587 53 07-34 office@secession.at, www.secession.at Tuesday Sunday 10 am 6 pm Permanent presentation: Gustav Klimt, Beethoven Frieze Public funding and supporters: 3
Cooperation-, media partners, sponsors: 4
Toni Schmale List of Works Galerie Corridor dipstation, (left), 2017 concrete; sandblasted, burnished, oiled steel 120 x 50 x 73 cm Exhibition space, clockwise das management, 2017 sandblasted, burnished, oiled steel; hot-dip zinced steel 136 x 88 x 126 cm stainless steel, tempered at 810 C, 30 min stainless steel, tempered at 810 C, 60 min stainless steel, tempered at 810 C, 20 min ach ach ach, 2017 3 objects: concrete; sandblasted, burnished, oiled steel each 120 x 61 x 113 cm All works: Courtesy Toni Schmale and Christine König Galerie, Vienna 5