Lucia Sotnikova's 'Primordial Forum: Lost Languages' at Kunstverein Heppenheim
Lucia Sotnikova's initiative, 'Primordial Forum,' originated from her photographic capture of a fifteen-metre advertising wall in her hometown, which once featured cultural, social, and political messages. Following its decommissioning, the wall was annually repainted silver, showing signs of rust and decay. In 2020, she presented a life-sized photographic replica at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. For 'Primordial Forum: Lost Languages' at Kunstverein Heppenheim, Sotnikova transformed a former bakery into a site-specific installation, covering windows with silver wall remnants and exhibiting three large-format wall fragments alongside textless photographic posters. Additionally, she projects found digital images from her series 'Stage Lights, Kitchen Nights' onto her own body, delving into themes of lost languages and the interplay between image and medium.
Key facts
- Lucia Sotnikova's 'Primordial Forum' began with a 15-meter advertising wall in her hometown.
- The wall was repainted silver annually after analogue posters disappeared.
- In 2020, Sotnikova exhibited a 1:1 photographic copy at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
- The wall has been recreated as a built object, image surface, and spatial structure.
- Kunstverein Heppenheim is located in a former bakery space.
- Windows are covered with silver wall fragments, making the exhibition invisible from outside.
- Three large wall fragments are covered with photographic posters without text or dates.
- Sotnikova uses found digital images from eBay for her series 'Stage Lights, Kitchen Nights'.
- She projects images onto her body and rephotographs them.
- The reverse side of window fragments is hidden behind plastic sheeting with green light.
Entities
Artists
- Lucia Sotnikova
Institutions
- Kunstverein Heppenheim
- Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
- eBay
Locations
- Heppenheim
- Germany
- Düsseldorf