Grace Schwindt

When a Body Becomes a Landscape

October 16 - December 21, 2024

Opening: Tuesday, October 15, 6 - 8 PM

11-13, rue des Arquebusiers, Paris

Galerie Peter Kilchmann is pleased to present the very first solo exhibition in France of the German artist Grace Schwindt (b. 1979, lives and works in London and Sicily) in our gallery venue in Paris. The exhibition features a dynamic interaction of newly conceived paintings and earlier sculptures in glass, ceramics, and bronze. Following the great success of Schwindt’s premiere in Zurich, the Paris exhibition represents a continuation and new perspectives on Schwindt’s engagement with trauma, injury, and the acceptance of

these through strategies of tenderness and touch. Inspired by literary critic Edward W. Said, Schwindt advocates for direct human encounters rather than intellectual understanding of cultures from a distance. She seeks to disrupt narratives on humans and bodies based on concepts of separation, instead promoting a history shaped by immediate touch. In doing so, she describes how, beyond our cultural influences, we are inextricably connected to nature, and this primal imprint is fragile and in need of protection. Even though the rational penetration of the mysterious and unstoppable metamorphoses of all life remains hidden from us, this very circumstance opens infinite possibilities for coexistence.

The artist, who works not only in sculpture, painting, and drawing, but also has a strong background in stage art and performance, has been invited to present a large-scale performance at the National Museum in Athens later this year, followed by an exhibition. After her solo presentation in Leuven in 2025, another will follow at Kunsthaus Wiesbaden in 2026. In addition to her recent institutional solo exhibition Defiant Bodies at Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, the artist has been invited by Kunsthal Gent for a residency and accompanying solo exhibition, and she participated in the Busan Biennale in South Korea, all in 2022. Other solo exhibitions have taken place at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow (2019); Rozenstraat – a rose is a rose is a rose, Amsterdam (2019); Rose Lejeune Gallery, London (2017); MARCO, Vigo (2016); Tramway, Glasgow (2014); The Showroom, London (2014); Site Gallery, Sheffield (2014); Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (2014); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2014); and Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2014). Performances have been staged at the Volksbühne, Berlin (2019); The Roberts Institute of Art, London (2018); Frascati Theatre, Amsterdam (2017); Kaaitheater, Brussels (2017); Royal Academy of Arts as part of the Block Universe Performance Festival, London (2016); Museum M, Leuven (2018); and South London Gallery, London (2011). Her works have also been featured in group exhibitions at Tate Britain, London (2013); WIELS, Brussels (2014); Imperial War Museum, London (2020); Arko Art Center, Seoul (2017); Garage, Rotterdam (2018); and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and are part of the permanent collections of Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Kunsthaus Zurich, Teylers Museum (Haarlem), Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre (London), and Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (Hokuto).

For more information please contact: Marina Hinkens (marina@peterkilchmann.com)

or Audrey Turenne (audrey@peterkilchmann.com).