12 june 2023, Flor Linckens
Grace Schwindt: an inquiry into vulnerability and strength
Until 24 June, Zeno X Gallery in Antwerp is showing a solo exhibition by Grace Schwindt, who is celebrating her tenth anniversary at the gallery this year. The works of the German artist invite us to explore the subtle tension between fragility and strength, as well as the impact of historical events and how they shape our understanding of ourselves, our relationships and the world. In her exhibition at Zeno X Gallery, she presents a selection of sculptures and drawings that she made for her recent solo exhibition 'Defiant Bodies' at the Swiss Kunstmuseum St. Gallen.
Schwindt is a versatile artist who likes to combine various artistic disciplines — from performances, sculptures and drawings to installations and films. In an interview with Annabel Downes for Ocula, the artist states: “I don't see disciplines as separate structures. For instance, I like to think of sculpture as performative and vice versa. Sculpture can be a documentation of a sound, a movement, or an event, like a performance. The costumes I create for my performances and choreography are often sculptural in form and play with the idea to perceive the body sculpturally.” Theatrical elements such as costumes, props and large-scale sets form a recurring visual element in Schwindt's work and she often works on the line between fiction and non-fiction.
Grace Schwindt, Inside Out, 2022, Zeno X Gallery
Schwindt's practice is an ongoing investigation into the fragility of the human body, as well as the relationship between human beings and their environment. She investigates the effects that (Western) capitalist culture as a system has on our individual bodies, minds, actions and relationships, but also on our collective memory and the ways in which we record our history. What role do our bodies, language and material culture — the objects we surround ourselves with — play in this?
Social and personal relationships form a significant basis for the artist's practice. She is interested in a multitude of perspectives and regularly engages in conversations with artists, refugees, politicians, family members and activists. These conversations often result in fictional dialogues in interdisciplinary performances. Thematically, she elaborates on themes such as (historical) trauma, power, freedom, intimacy, exclusion, destruction, care and violence.
In concrete terms, this translates into works for which she was inspired by the stories of her grandfather, who, as a Jewish German, infiltrated the German army and then surrendered to the British. As a prisoner of war, he took part in clandestine boxing matches from which he suffered several wounds. Yet for him, it seemed to symbolise a certain degree of freedom and bodily autonomy, despite the temporary denial of an important aspect of his identity.
Grace Schwindt, Right Shoulder Blade, 2021, Zeno X Gallery
Schwindt lives and works in London, where she studied Photography at the University of Westminster, followed by a degree at the Slade School of Fine Art. She has participated in several international residency programs, including the Center for Contemporary Arts Glasgow and the Gershwin Foundation in New York. Her work has been shown in various institutions, theaters and biennales, including the Busan Biennale, the Imperial War Museum and Tate Britain in London, Kunsthal Gent, the Lustwarande in Tilburg, the Arko Art Center in Seoul, the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo in Havana, the Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe, the Istanbul Biennale, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver and Frascati in Amsterdam.
Grace Schwindt, Resting Point, 2022, Zeno X Gallery
