19. Dec 2021 – 12. Jun 2021
Bettina Pousttchi was born in Mainz in 1971, today she lives and works in Berlin. Her work, which has been presented with great international success, is at the interface between sculpture, architecture and photography. As the kick-off exhibition for the theme year 2022, »Wegweiserinnen« (»female guides«), we follow Bettina Pousttchi's diverse works and ask ourselves the question of orientation in unexpected and new contexts.
The exhibition shows sculptures, reliefs and photographs from the last seven years, with the title »Fluidity« referring to the changeable, flowing form of her works. She mechanically deforms street furniture that seems familiar, such as tree protection bars, road posts or guardrails, coats them with paint or polishes them to a high gloss. Transformed in this way, the objects acquire an innovative and often dynamic aesthetic. The abstract forms such as the Squeezers or the Vertical Highways are arranged in groups and figures that communicate and interact with each other. The industrially manufactured elements abandon their original purpose of establishing order in public space and become individuals who enliven the exhibition space. Pousttchi's work Marianne (2015) from the Squeezers series completes the Skulpturenufer (Sculpture Bank) Remagen as the last artistic position. During the exhibition, it was set up below the Unkelstein Bridge in Oberwinter and will remain there permanently.
The architecture of the museum's building by Richard Meier, with its generous white walls, also offers an ideal setting for the group of works of Frameworks, multi-part reliefs with oriental-looking square elements made of fired and glazed clay. These works are complemented by the recently created series of Directions, which are mounted "floating" on the wall as cut-out objects made of cut and color-coated steel. Roads with markings, on the other hand, determine the Drive Thru photo series. This was based on the installation Drive Thru Museum in the Nasher Sculpture Center Dallas 2014, in which the artist presented her own work in dialogue with the museum's collection in an unusual way, including the sculpture Knospentorso by Hans Arp. The resulting photo now invites you to follow the dynamic rhythm of Bettina Pousttchi's trendsetting works in the Arp Museum.