Peter Wächtler - The Goethe-Institut - Ludlow 38 - January 20th 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

MINI/Goethe-Institut Curatorial Residencies Ludlow 38 is pleased to present Peter Wächtler's first exhibition in the United States. B.A.C.K. will feature new work by the artist.

Peter Wächtler creates narrative works in a wide range of media. The vivid language of his stories finds its counterpart in expressive drawings, both often transposed onto other materials, such as ceramic reliefs or theater-like film. The first-person narrators of Wächtler's stories occupy positions of contemplative distance and passivity towards the world. They often speak from the vantage point of death when they muse about their lives, recalling formative experiences and decisive moments. Even those that are "alive" seem paralyzed—functioning or malfunctioning within their world, but unable to act upon it. As opposed to the myths of personality development, fate, destiny, and so on, which Wächtler's stories mime, the social totality here creeps into the picture. Subjects appear as products of social formations, their codes and rituals denaturalized. In Wächtler's stories, emptied-out phrases from the repertoire of communication agencies and shallow love songs are made to speak beautifully of a world that is not, and critical theory is as good a medium for territorial fights as fists or a kryptonite bicycle lock.

Peter Wächtler (*1979, Hannover) lives and works in Brussels. Recent solo exhibitions include Studium Maximum, Reisebürogalerie Diko-Reisen, Cologne (2012); Das Kino im Alten Mühlenviertel, Galerie Lars Friedrich, Berlin (2012); and The Set, Etablissement d'en Face, Brussels (2011). He has also shown in group exhibitions such as Un-Scene II, Wiels Centre d'Art Contemporain, Brussels (2012); Anfang gut. Alles gut., Basso, Berlin/Kunsthaus Bregenz (2011); Melanchotopia, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2011); and Herzliya Biennial (2011). Peter Wächtler is a member of Etablissement d'en Face and a co-founder of the exhibition space Sotoso in Brussels.