Katja Schenker's Performative Monoliths at Haus Konstruktiv

Swiss performance artist Katja Schenker opened her solo exhibition at the Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich's Löwenbräukunst-Areal with the performance 'Caryatids Go for a Swim' (Karyatiden gehen schwimmen). For the first time, she collaborated with other performers, five women who threw balls of string to each other, forming a net that deformed copper springs of two door-like structures, creating a living sculpture. The exhibition also features drawings made with full physical effort, where Schenker paints her body with red oil pastels. Her work explores the dissolution of spatial and bodily boundaries, often involving dangerous actions, such as in 'Vesuv' (2014), where she whirls with a ten-kilogram alabaster stone attached to a four-meter rope. Born in St. Gallen in 1968, Schenker's practice combines conceptual analysis with sensory experience. The exhibition space, a former brewery, is dominated by eight massive columns, which her fluid and dynamic interventions counteract. The title references caryatids, female figures in ancient Greek architecture that bear loads on their heads, which Schenker reinterprets as priestesses preparing for ritual dance, offering a feminist perspective. The exhibition includes drawings with luminous red tones symbolizing energy and interiority, created through 'image performances' where the artist uses her body as a tool.