Ana Roldán Take Positions: Bodies and Plants 30.1. - 7.3.2015

Ana Roldán Take Positions: Bodies and Plants 30.1. - 7.3.2015

Installation view, annex14, 2015

Ana Roldán, False Flag, 2015 Permawash on dyed cotton 113 x 73 cm

Ana Roldán, Vanilla Overseas, 2015 Poster, Vanilla Dimension variable

Ana Roldán, Indian File (1-28), 2015 Photogram 60.5 x 50 cm each

Ana Roldán, I thought it was impossible I, 2015 Cotton, lycra, wood, foam Dimension variable Ana Roldán, I thought it was impossible III, 2015 cotton, lycra, wood, foam Dimension variable

Ana Roldán, I thought it was impossible II, 2015 Cotton, lycra, wood, foam Dimension variable

Ana Roldán Take Position: Bodies and Plants 30.1. - 7.3.2015 With the exhibition Take Position: Bodies and Plants, annex14 is showing four new groups of works by Ana Roldán, who was born in Mexico in 1977. These works date from 2014/2015 and in them the artist engages with the interactions between nature and culture and with the question of the extent to which positions taken by mind and body mutually affect each other. The shadow of a flag flutters against a backdrop of grey asphalt. The video recording, almost totally in different grey nuances, is accompanied by the beat of feet dancing to the rhythm of a Mexican folksong. It is this that provides an indicator of where the otherwise universally valid flag outline might be located. The video was made in the member state of Guerrero in Mexico, i.e. the state where the abduction of 43 students from a teacher training college made headlines in September 2014. The subsequent investigation clearly pointed to involvement of organised crime, the police and politicians, and this subliminally present knowledge is evoked by the video. Whereas a flag is seen necessarily as a symbol of a community of some kind, the empty shadow of a flag makes a mockery of the concept of union and forms a banner of its own for people s feeling of being separated in a splintered society. Like the video medium, the wall poster is also a political medium: both are capable of promoting the widespread dissemination of political ideas and both are omnipresent in our cities. By placing the posters irregularly on the wall Roldán plays with the different meanings of position, fanning out the scope of the term, something that also resounds in the exhibition title: Position can be a physical position in three-dimensional space, a body pose or an attitude or mind-set. Roldán playfully addresses a basic problem of philosophy through her bands of words, namely, the question of how one proceeds from a mental to a physical attitude, and what the relationship is between them. In the context of her video work, therefore, the question also arises as to the point at which an inner attitude becomes manifest in a constellation of bodies on the street. The three sculptures arranged in the room exhibit a strange presence. Covered in fabric they evoke the feeling of being confronted with something living, yet at the same time they are only representations of a human presence. In the bends and curves of the upholstered figures we may well recognise crossed legs or bodies snuggling up to one another, but the supposed peace of the anthropomorphous positions can be destroyed by taking just a few steps: seen from another angle, this humanity gets lost and what the eye sees is simply a strict abstract sculpture. The sculptures thus hover between the organic and the technical, while still preserving an aura of presence that is difficult to fully grasp. This hybrid aspect is underscored by the use of different textiles: while we recognise the fabrics on the one hand as evidently man-made, on the other, we always link them, as a second skin, with a person and the distinction between nature and culture becomes blurred. The thirty photograms also reflect Roldán s interest in the opposition between forms that grow naturally and man-made forms. While man often appropriates forms from nature, syntheticizing and abstracting them for the purposes of design and art, Roldán enables the natural form to itself become an image: she brings organic items like coconuts into the photo laboratory where, as if by themselves, they become inscribed in the photographic surface. She thus presents us with indexical impressions of coconuts with which she then forms artificial and construed arrangements thereby putting them in the context of abstract painting. As a result of his human activity, the border between organically grown and deliberate production becomes unclear and volatile. This interaction is further underscored by the very medium of the photogram the only one that enables an object to depict itself. In the works in Take Position: Bodies and Plants Ana Roldán thus addresses themes with which she has been preoccupied for some time, creating a multi-layered exhibition in which not only political events reverberate, but also the philosophical question of the duality of mind and body. Sarah Wiesendanger

Ana Roldán Born 1977 in Mexco D.F., Mexico, lives and works in Zürich 1995 High School in Mexiko City, ME 1997-2000 Studies of History, Escuela Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexiko City, ME 2000-2003 Academy of Fine Arts, Bern, CH Awards, Residences 2010 Werkbeitrag Kanton Zürich 2009 City of Zurich prize 2008 Cahier d Artiste, Pro Helvetia ZH, CH 2007 Atelierstipendium der Stadt Zürich, CH in Kunming, China 2006 Swiss Art Award 2005 Swiss Art Award Residency in Paris at Michael von Graffenried s studio 2003 Anerkennungspreis, Corti Aeschlimann Stipendium Collections Burger Collection, Berlin / Hongkong Crédit Suisse, Zürich La Colección Jumex, Mexico Kunsthaus Zürich Die Mobiliar, Bern Sammlung Ricola, Laufen Cisneros Collecion, New York Sammlung Swiss Re, Zürich Solo Shows 2015 Take Position: Bodies and Plants, annex14, Zürich 2014 RITUALE*2, Stadtbad Zürich, kuratiert von Stephan Meylan 2013 Drunk, High and Exhilaration, Florian Christopher a show room, Zurich 2012 Espejo Negro, Formato Cómodo, Madrid Different Orders, annex14, Bern, CH 2011 Blank Back Mirror. (mit Alicja Kwade), Kunsthaus Langenthal (Cat.) Forms of contemplation, ideal forms in compositions. Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, DE 2010 Cococompositions, Ellen de Bruijne Projects, NL DYNAMO0, mit Falke Pisano, Kunsthaus Glarus, CH Garash, Galería d arte contemporánea, Mexico DC, MX 2009 As the Myth of the hole, annex14, Bern, CH Words to be looked at, objects to be read, Kunsthalle Arbon Picking holy words from the perfect ghost, homage an James Lee Byars Kunstmuseum Bern (Performance) 2008 Wartsaal, Zürich, CH (mit Falke Pisano) The Actor, The Art Place, Beijing, China Dance Steps, Galerie Garash, Mexixo City, ME Observations on Modernity and Form, Statements / Kunst, Zurich art fair 2007 Kosmisch, Magisch, Musikalisch, Black Box, Marks Blond Projekt, Bern, CH 2006 Truth, annex14, Bern, CH Seit es gut schmeckt bis es sich nicht mehr bewegt, ZWINGLISTRASSE 40, Zürich, CH Gott ist rot, Amberg-Marti, Zürich, CH Fable, Espace Libre, Biel, CH 2005 Début, Marks Blond Project, Bern, CH Kill the beast, Yellow Submarine - Marks Blond Projekt bei Mark Divo Häuser und wir, Zürich, CH Der Berg und der Boden, Kunst in St. Peter und Paul, Bern, CH 2004 Der Buchstabe «O», Galerie Kunstkeller, Bern, CH Es war einmal, ENTER, Kunstmuseum, Thun, CH 2002 Alles ist wie alles, Stadtgalerie, Bern, CH 2001 Silber Gelatine, Galerie Kabinett, Bern, CH

Group Shows (Selection) 2014 Blackboard White Page, Kantonschule Zurich Nord, curated by Ana Roldán and Maud Châtelet Les échos de la nature, annex14, Zürich Tell me what I see when I look into your eyes, Bolte Lang, Zürich 2013 Feu Sacré, Kunstmuseum Bern (Cat.) Last Exit to Ordalia, LJ Gallery, curated by Marco Costantini, Paris, France Ask for something that doesn t exist, duo show with Iza Tarasewicz, Labyrint, Lublin, Poland Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, Christinger DeMayo, Zürich LUPA, ArtRio, curated by Abaseh Mirvali, Rio, Brazil 2012 Primer Acto/ First Act, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, MX La jeunesse est un art. Jubiläum Manor Kunstpreis, Aargauer Kunsthaus, CH La hora y los sitios, MACO (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, MX Galerie Sultana kuriert von La Central, Bogota, Paris; F 2011 Multitude, Örebro Art Center, S MôtiersArtenPlainAir,Môtiers, CH MerzWorld,CabaretVoltaire,Zurich, CH Colours.Coleurs.Colori, Die Mobiliar, Bern, CH 2010 Distant Memory, Kunstmuseum Solothurn, CH (Cat.) Des seins à Dessein, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne, CH Formal reiterations and the end of the world, Garash, with Athene Galiciadis, Mexico City, Mexico 2009 Made in China, Kunstmuseum Bern, CH (Cat.) Inbetweenout, Arsenic, Lausanne, CH Conspiracy, Kunsthalle Bern, CH Hu-Nong in Beijing, China Biennale Bejing, China KIT, Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, DE Swiss Art Award, Präsentation Cahier d Artiste, CH 2008 Aurum, Gold in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Centre PasquArt, Biel, CH Stopover, SESC Pinheiros, Sao Paulo, Brasil. Revolución Industrial, MUCA Roma, Mexiko City, ME Blood, Swat and Speres, Grand Palais, Bern, CH, (group show) 2007 Intuition, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Hildesheim, DE (Cat.) Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, CH Stipendien der Stadt Zürich, Helmhaus, Zürich, CH Môtiers Art en plain air, Môtiers, CH Swiss Art Awards, Basel, CH Corti-Aeschlimann Stipendium, Kunstmuseum Thun, CH 2006 I Soterranei dell Arte, Monte Carasso, Ticino, CH Preisträgerausstellung, PROGR, Bern, CH Swiss Art Awards, Basel, CH Corti-Aeschlimann Stipendium, Kunsthaus Langenthal, CH Kill the bee-st 2/stopover Fri-Art, Fribourg, CH 2005 Weihnachtsausstellung, Kunstmuseum Thun, CH Keiner hilft keinen Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, CH Dr Aare naa, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, CH (Cat.) Swiss Art Awards, Basel, CH More things, Galerie annex14, Bern, CH Corti-Aeschlimann Stipendium, Kunstmuseum, Bern, CH 2004 Weihnachtsausstellung, Kunstmuseum, Bern, CH Identität, Kunstraum, Baden, CH Der längste Tag, Kunsthof, Zürich Corti-Aeschlimann Stipendium, Centre Pasquart, Biel, CH 2003 7X3, Kunsthalle, Bern, CH Presence - Absence I, Kaskadenkondensator, Basel, CH Presence -AbsenceII,Stadtgalerie,Ber n, CH Archaische Gegenwarten, Biennale Bern, Diplom Ausstellung Kunstklasse, Stadtgalerie, Bern, CH Corti-Aeschlimann Stipendum, Kunstmuseum Thun, CH 2002 Wir sind in Berlin, Gruppe n portal, Bern/Berlin/Bern 2001 Turm Festival Science et Cité, Bern