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Urs August Steiner (CH)
Born 1980, lives in Zürich, Switzerland
Education
2009/11
Master in Fine Arts, ECAL, University of Art and Design Lausanne
2007
Fine Arts, CCA, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
2005/08
Bachelor Scenography, ZHdK, Zurich University of the Arts, Zürich
Solo exhibitions
2021
- S01E08 Exposure, Untitled Basel, Basel
2019
- Swiss Pavilion - S01E03 Pavilion, Bombay Beach Biennale, California
- S01E02 Defreeze, Nextex, St.Gallen
2017
- Super Cool X-1000, Fokus Preis, Kunsthaus Glarus
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Old Dogs - New Tricks, With Walter Pfeiffer, Dienstgebäude, Zürich
2015
- Buster Six, Des Pacio, San José, Costa Rica, CRI
- Orbit 2046, MoCA Pavilion, Museum for Contemporary Art, Shanghai, CHN
2014
- Twin Peaks, Grand Palais, Bern
- Buster II, Lokal-int, Biel
2013
- Some Scream and Some Don‘t, Splatterpool, New York, USA
Group exhibitions (selection)
2021
- Trovate Ortensia, Fondazione ICA Milano, Milano
2020
- Werk- und Auslandatelier-Stipendien 2020, Helmhaus, Zürich
2019
- The Big Rip, Bounce, Chill or Crunch?, Last Tango, Zürich
2018
- Heimspiel, Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen
2017
- Previous, Blossom, Zürich
- Farrago, L‘OV, Centre d‘art Neuchâtel
2016
- Eleven Flags, Sitterwerk, St. Gallen
2015
- New Glarus, Kunsthaus Glarus
- F?!, Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, USA
2014
- Kunstschaffen Glarus und Linthgebiet, Kunsthaus Glarus
- Catch of the Year, Dienstgebäude, Zürich
- The Rest is Noise, Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur
Awards / Residencies
2019
- Artist residency, Roma Calling, Istituto Svizzero di Roma, ITA
- Bursary award, UBS
2018
- Bursary award, canton St. Gallen
- Research bursary, Pro Helvetia 2016
2016
- Bursary award, canton St. Gallen
2015
- Artist residency, Pro Helvetia, Shanghai, CHN
2014
- Fokus-Prize, Kunsthaus Glarus
2012
- Artist residency, Residency Unlimited, New York, USA
Collection
2019
- Canton St.Gallen
Web-Development
Another Code Project
Karen Czock, Fabian Wohlfart
Installation, 2021
Group exhibition, Trovate Ortensia, Fondazione ICA Milano, Milano, curated by Il Colorificio in collaboration with Istituto Svizzero
Urs August Steiner intervenes on the façade and on the interstitial space between the external door and the plasterboard wall of the room. With this gesture, the artist expands a research focused on the desire for immortality pursued within the frame of science fiction. Steiner’s environmental installation recalls the atmosphere of a scientific laboratory where one can experience the transcendence of time beyond the limits of the body. Cryonics—or cryopreservation—is the process that allows vital organs to be preserved at low temperatures. This procedure, however, does not ensure the future recovery of their functions and today it can be performed legally only after the death of the subject. Steiner visited the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in the Arizona desert, one of three companies in the world that practice this biopolitical treatment on the human body. In the spaces of Alcor, standardized corporate environments lead the way to cold laboratories scattered with hibernation cells and freezing vapors. The remains of the bodies are stored in stainless steel tanks, crystallized while waiting to be woken. In Steiner’s installation, the ICA’s façade is marked by regular areas of transparency and opacity and on the right of the interstice, a hand wearing a motorcycle glove pops out. It holds a bunch of keys, with a motorcycle key, a USB stick and a metal object with the inscription Fornever Forget. The installation advocates a critical reflection upon the Prometric human desire of controlling time. The smoke gives life to abstract choreographies, an absent body wishing for eternal life as it wins over death while Recalling echoes and erasures of old memories.
Pictures Credits: Elena Radice
Image 01
S01E07 Recall, installation, adhesive foil, smoke, 12 x 5m
Image 02
S01E07 Recall, installation, adhesive foil, smoke, 12 x 5m
Image 03
S01E07 Recall, installation detail, adhesive foil, smoke, 12 x 5m
Image 04
S01E07 Recall, installation detail, MacGuffin, motorcycle glove, key blanks, usb stick, 3d metall print, 12 x 6cm