Anna and Bernhard Blume at the Kunsthalle Krems, Austria
—
Anna and Bernhard Blume are opening a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Krems, Austria.
The artist couple Anna and Bernhard Blume (1936-2020 and 1937-2011, respectively) began creating their performative black-and-white photo-graphs in the 1980s, working together in front of and behind the camera. For these works, they assumed the roles of a petite bourgeois couple from a post-war generation for whom it was very important to present an orderly impression outwardly. The Blumes, however, turned this orderliness completely on its head. Everyday objects slip out of their grasp and take on a life of their own: potatoes fly through the air, broken plates are strewn over the kitchen floor, furniture collapses, and people with contorted faces futilely try to gain control of the situation.
Gender roles and clichés are counter-acted with irony and humor, as is the bourgeois code of conduct. Anna and Bernhard Blume executed every phase of the artistic process themselves, from image composition and shooting to developing and enlarging the photos in the lab.
A present-day view of their work in a world again facing increased repression is worthwhile, about the couple's collaborative work as well as in view of the dissolution of principles of order as an end in itself and this is even done with a sense of humor that is often so difficult for cultures of the German-speaking world.
Curator: Andreas Hoffer
Opening hours
Tuesday till Sunday
from 10am till 5pm
KUNSTHALLE KREMS
Museumsplatz 5, 3500 Krems an der Donau
Austria