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Gerda Steiner and Jorg LenzlingerSwiss artist duo
Country:
 Switzerland |
Content:
- Swiss Artist Duo: Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger
- Innovative Installations
- Exploring the Brain and Beyond
- Early Influences and Transition
- International Recognition
Swiss Artist Duo: Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger
Collaboration and ExplorationGerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger, a Swiss artist duo, have dedicated their collaborative practice to investigating the processes of creation and reproduction, delving into the interplay between diverse forms of matter. Their elaborate, fantasy-laden, and allegorical installations, often created for specific sites, incorporate taxidermied animals and insects, motor oil, trees and plants, and chemical substances.
Innovative Installations
Steiner and Lenzlinger's work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe, Brazil, and Japan. Notably, they represented Switzerland at the Venice Biennale in 2003 with "Falling Garden," an immersive installation that evoked the legend of a miraculous deer garden in the Church of San Stae. Visitors could recline on a bed suspended above the Doge's tomb, gazing up at a suspended mass of vibrant elements—plastic berries from India, baobab seeds from Australia, and artificial flowers. Beneath, vibrant urea crystals proliferated on the floor.
Exploring the Brain and Beyond
Their 2004 installation "Brainforest" at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 21st Century in Kanazawa, Japan, extended the concepts explored in "Falling Garden." Likening the human brain with its intricate connections and neurons to a tropical rainforest, they suspended paper flowers and petal birds, gilded branches, and colored electrical and computer cables from the ceiling. Visitors were invited to contemplate their own brains as if turned inside out.
Early Influences and Transition
Steiner's early works included psychedelic-inspired wall paintings, while Lenzlinger transformed industrial materials into vibrant, stalactite-like formations. In their collaborative practice, they have united their distinct approaches, creating immersive and thought-provoking installations.
International Recognition
Their work has garnered international acclaim, including their inclusion in the main project "Against Exclusion" at the 2009 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Steiner and Lenzlinger continue to explore the boundaries of installation art, challenging and inspiring viewers with their imaginative and thought-provoking creations.
