What Cracks?

In her largest Swiss-German solo exhibition yet, Lou Masduraud (b. 1990, based in Geneva) takes over the nine spaces of the entire first floor of Kunsthaus Langenthal. Objects as well as interventions in the existing structures of the spaces are combined to constitute a comprehensive installation. The artist relies on diverse materials, such as objects made from cast bronze, a copper fountain installation, and found objects like former streetlamps from the region and armchairs that once were used by the Langenthal municipal council. In the exhibition Masduraud engages with the history of the building that once was a centre of commerce and governance – that is, a place of power – of the city of Langenthal. She translates motifs related to observation, visibility, accessibility and lack thereof into spatial configurations. She blocks the usual exhibition path, thereby offering new perspectives. For example, she creates spaces that cannot be entered and are only visible through small cut-aways. The latter are embedded in sculptural elements reminiscent of peepholes and basement windows and continue the work she began with the cluster “Plan d’Evasion”, which continues to evolve since its inception a few years ago. She understands the new insights and perspectives afforded by her work as holes in reality, as ruptures and symbolic portals to unofficial spaces and a refuge from the collective gaze of normative reality. One central aisle leads to the exhibition spaces of the Kunsthaus. This aisle recalls the architecture of public and institutional buildings such as hospitals, schools, prisons or, as in this case, a municipal hall – the purpose the building of the Kunsthaus served for over a hundred years. The artist has long been interested in the question how the administration of the collective body shapes the architecture of such buildings and how it manifests in public spaces.