Christoph Meier

Dear Christoph,

The exhibition plans are ready, the works decided upon, shipping arranged and installation instructions given. I've seen most of "the work", since they were made in the studio we share in Vienna where I encountered their behavior. Though on the road, in the exhibitions, part of a party they acted upon these specific set of conditions. You were always there to navigate them around. You reported back with the stories.

The gap between "the works" I know and their setting now in Luxemburg is part of what is to be written about here. You talking me through their travelling experiences, the parties, conversations, and building up questions, it holds your navigational gaze and in its form this is just what you like.

It is as if you expect a frame to hold an image, you expect the crate to hold a work, this text to talk about the work. Though is that container interested in what it contains or the way around? Is the perfect composition of a half circle interested in the value of the stamp? Is the setting in which the works are shown interested in the work they hosted? Don't get me wrong, I don't mean this pejorative, sure there is a valuable interest from the position of the host but the question would be more precisely – In what sphere is the interest based?

I was intrigued by your description of 'a monument for a farmer's war' by Albrecht Durer. You were telling me that this statue looks like it is composed in 15 minutes, and even if it is constructed out of the most redundant materials, like food containers, amphora, sheep and cows, it is still able to gain maximum height. Like your works might generate a serious depth or reach into space.

In the case of the gallery, a new wall is bound to be built, so the gallery can operate efficiently. The function of an architectural device here has as little interest in what is behind its wall as the container to what it contains. Though they act and react, as does the work when inserted. The implementation is not based on a shared interest situated in discourse. It is the ignorance inherent in the autonomy claim of the sculpture, architecture and exhibition device that opens up the space for this letter or what I would call the displaced social setting.

Curious to hear your stories back on your return

Pieternel Vermoortel

Christoph Meier est né en 1980. Il vit et travaille à Vienne (Autriche). En plus d'étudier l'architecture à l'Université technique de Vienne, il a étudié la sculpture à l'Académie des Beaux-Arts de Vienne (auprès de Heimo Zobernig) et à la Glasgow School of Art. Outre de nombreuses expositions en Europe et aux Etats-Unis, il a été invité par la Wiener Secession à une première exposition personnelle dans une institution en Autriche en 2011. En 2015 Meier a été boursier au Centre MAK à Los Angeles. L'année dernière son exposition personnelle C & O fut présentée au Kunstverein de Hambourg; elle sera présentée en septembre 2017 au KIOSK à Gand et en mai 2018 au Casino Luxembourg-Forum d’art contemporain. En collaboration avec Ute Müller et Nick Oberthaler, Meier publie depuis 2009 la fanzine pour artistes Black Pages. Et, depuis 2016, il fait fonctionner, avec Hugo Canoilas et Nicola Pecoraro, l'espace d'exposition Guimarães à Vienne.

Exposition sous le haut patronage de l'Ambassade d'Autriche Luxembourg.

Christoph Meier wurde 1980 geboren. Er lebt und arbeitet in Wien. Neben einem Architekturstudium an der TU Wien studierte er Bildhauerei an der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien bei Heimo Zobernig und an der Glasgow School of Art. Neben zahlreichen Ausstellungen in Europa und den USA wurde er 2011 von der Wiener Secession zu einer ersten institutionellen Einzelausstellung in Österreich eingeladen. 2015 war Meier Stipendiat am MAK Center in Los Angeles. Im letzten Jahr eröffnete seine Einzelausstellung C & O im Kunstverein in Hamburg, die im September 2017 im KIOSK in Ghent und im Mai 2018 im Casino Luxemburg zu sehen sein wird. Gemeinsam mit Ute Müller und Nick Oberthaler gibt Meier seit 2009 das KünstlerInnen-Fanzine Black Pages heraus und betreibt mit Hugo Canoilas und Nicola Pecoraro seit 2016 den Ausstellungsraum Guimarães in Wien.

Ausstellung unter der Schirmherrschaft der Österreichischen Botschaft Luxemburg.

Born in 1980, Christoph Meier now lives and works in Vienna. He studied sculpture at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (with Heimo Zobernig) and at the Glasgow School of Art, as well as architecture at the TU Wien. In addition to numerous exhibitions in Europe and the United States, he was invited in 2011 by the Secession in Vienna to hold a first institutional solo exhibition in Austria. In 2015, Meier was a scholarship recipient at the MAK Center in Los Angeles. Last year his solo exhibition C & O opened at the Kunstverein in Hamburg, which will be exhibited at KIOSK in Ghent in September 2017 and at Casino Luxembourg in May 2018. Together with Ute Müller and Nick Oberthaler, Meier has been publishing the artist's Fanzine Black Pages since 2009 and has been running the exhibition space Guimarães in Vienna, together with Hugo Canoilas and Nicola Pecoraro.

Exhibition under the patronage of the Austrian Embassy Luxembourg.