... FROM ... UNTIL ...
17.7. TO 20.10.24
The Sprengel Museum Hannover is presenting two works by the Vienna-based artist Martina Kresta (*1976) in the Sprengel Focus, which are now part of the collection as a purchase and donation: A large-format backdrop cardboard with spiral-shaped circles that only become visible when exposed to UV light, and a dismantled plan cabinet of the kind often found in creative studios. Kresta deals with questions of transience and confronts her audience with one of the most fundamental questions about our own existence: What do we do to the time we have been given?
MATCH CUT, 11.-17.7.2007
For her work "Match Cut", Kresta works between July 11 and 17, 2007 - seven days or 168 hours, of which she draws 84 hours. She divides the drawing time between twelve circle drawings (nine in the drawers, two of which are sheets with two circles each; additionally one drawing without a drawer). She notes the time she spends on each drawing on her works. The size of her delicate creations thus indicates the amount of time spent on each: the larger the circle, the longer the time invested. The title "Match Cut" alludes to the "missing" 84 hours, which are not visible in the works, that she did not spend on drawing.
Kresta's circular drawings are joined together like match cuts and skip over the missing 84 hours in which she did not draw. Match cuts are a film montage technique in which sequences from different scenarios are linked together. This creates a narrative flow that joins together what are actually unrelated elements, as in a collage.
Part of the work "Match Cut" is also a graphics cabinet, which originally served to store and preserve works on paper. By storing them in drawers, however, the drawings are deprived of their visibility. Kresta reverses the function of the cabinet: here it serves as a frame, unprotected from light, which decomposes the work in the long term. Small strips of paper on which she wipes off excess ink bear witness to the process of drawing.
BEYOND THE V-CUTOUT, RECORDING
23 JANUARY-19 MARCH 2023 4H/DAY
The work "Beyond the V-cut. Recording January 23-March 19, 2023 4h/day" also names the time used for recording. However, it is not visible here - the large-format white sheet is seemingly empty, just as time is generally not visible. The artist has used agent ink for her drawing, which is only visible under UV light.
BLOOMING
"Blooming" in turn shows drawn circles on plant leaves. The drawings record the time that has elapsed while drawing, while the plant leaves wither and thus make the process of elapsing time comprehensible.
Curated by Alexander Leinemann
