{"id":7514,"date":"2018-07-28T20:13:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-28T20:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muellerundsohn.eu\/?page_id=7514"},"modified":"2018-07-28T20:13:26","modified_gmt":"2018-07-28T20:13:26","slug":"mueller-sohn-en","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/muellerundsohn.eu\/english\/mueller-sohn-en\/","title":{"rendered":"M\u00fcller & Sohn (en)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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About<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The artist duo M\u00fcller & Sohn<\/strong> think of themselves as an aesthetic, experimental research laboratory that operates between the poles of painting, sculpture, photography and video art. Their work focuses on nature, from closely observing and examining it and its phenomena to scrutinising how human intervention can impact and alter it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00fcller & Sohn develop artistic-scientific tools which they use to create object-based landmarks<\/a> in order to change the visual structure of landscapes. Through this kind of spatial re-interpretation and its multimedia documentation, M\u00fcller & Sohn create images of intense aesthetic coherence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irene M\u00fcller<\/a><\/strong>, previously an artistic collaborator with Christoph Schlingensief, interweaves documentary photographic and video material with painting. Diethard Sohn<\/a><\/strong> <\/a>connects with nature by means of hyper-realistic rendition in painting. This stands in contrast to his ironical reinterpretation of cubism which combines cubistic structures with the palette and the aesthetic of comic strips.<\/p>\n\n\n

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PATHS \u2013 Alps<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The origin of the joint projects<\/h2>\n\n\n

It started in the Austrian Alps. During our hiking trips we discovered red benches that were placed into the landscape at regular intervals as though they were intended to divide it into sections and provide it with a distinct rhythm. <\/p>\n\n\n

This inspired us to develop our own research and measurement tools in the form of red strips of fabric that we used to walk paths with and rhythmically mark the landscape by assigning indefinite measurement and time units to it. While doing so, we documented our actions within the natural environment on photograph and film. We sketched down the resulting ideas and insights and realized them again in painting, sculpture, photography and film.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Irene<\/a>
Marking the landscape, M\u00fcller & Sohn, Project PATHS \u2013 Alps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Exploring landscapes by walking in connection with the artistic and scientific research instruments, the use of photography, film, painting and sculpture \u2013 these are the elements that form a wide field of possibilities for the creation of a total work of art. This also includes joint works where both artists cooperate on one single painting.<\/p>\n\n\n

See below for an example: Kuh Vadis<\/em><\/strong> 250 x 150 cm, Acryl auf Baumwolle, Irene M\u00fcller und Diethard Sohn 2016, Project PATHS \u2013 Alps<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Cow<\/a>
Kuh Vadis<\/strong><\/em> 250 x 150 cm, acrylic on cotton, Irene M\u00fcller and Diethard Sohn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

The following gallery shows the photographic documentation of their art performances and how Irene M\u00fcller and Diethard Sohn have each individually transformed their landscape explorations into painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We showed our ongoing project WEGE – Alps for the first time in a salon exhibition<\/a> of the Kunstverein – Ludwigsburg.<\/p>\n\n\n

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PATHS \u2013 Renewal<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

In 2016, we transferred the means of expression which we had elaborated during our first PATHS project to the field of historical investigation. PATHS \u2013 Renewal. The subject of research was the protestant Reformation in W\u00fcrttemberg which we intended to describe and encode as a phenomenon of cultural and religious history.<\/p>\n\n\n

For this project, we visited places that are related to the historical figure of Duke Christoph who in the 16th<\/sup> century introduced the Reformation in W\u00fcrttemberg. While  doing so, we marked paths and put down symbols that represented his life and works and his ongoing legacy. <\/p>\n\n\n

We recorded each of those performative explorations for documentation with actioncams in time lapse mode. These recordings are an integral part of our video installation  <\/p>\n\n\n

Correspondingly, we made palpable the process of renewal (which is inherent to the term \u201cReformation\u201d) through the creation of a painting. This was done by depicting representative motifs from the Duke-Christoph-exhibition at the W\u00fcrttemberg State Museum in Stuttgart and by overpainting each single motif with another one. During this continuous process, a great number of layers added up, which by their semi-transparency preserved the former conditions of the painting to make the past within the present perceivable.<\/p>\n\n\n

As a link to our walking explorations, we frequently let appear the symbols that we before had created with the red fabric strips within the layers of the painting, eventually leading it to completion by painting the symbol for \u201ceternity\u201d which had also previously appeared during the video recording in the form of a choreographic figure.<\/p>\n\n\n

Renewal <\/strong>| Duke Christoph Bad Urach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
PATHS \u2013 Renewal<\/strong> |<\/strong> Duke Christoph | Stuttgart Castle Square<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
PATHS \u2013 Renewal <\/strong>| Duke Christoph | Stuttgart Castle and Ulm M\u00fcnster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n