Thomas Hirschhorn: Das Auge (The Eye)

We are pleased to present the North American premiere of Das Auge (The Eye), one of Thomas Hirschhorn's largest and most immersive sculptural installations. Selected to represent his native Switzerland at the 2011 Venice Biennale, Hirschhorn is renowned for his sprawling artworks that use everyday materials, found images from the news and mass media, and impassioned graffiti-like texts to engage audiences in actively thinking about politics and philosophy. Hirschhorn is interested in the aesthetics of political protest – slogans, placards, provocative photos—and in moving people to think and act critically in the world.

Crafted from paper, packing tape, colour photocopies, stuffed animals, mannequins, and other provisional materials, Das Auge (The Eye) is based around an eye that sees only the colour red. Cobbled together from hundreds of different sculptural elements, images and texts, the entire mise-en-scène is dominated by the juxtaposition of red and white: the flags of Canada, Switzerland and other nations; the veins in an eye; blood on snow. The artist has written: "Das Auge [The Eye] does not see everything—but it sees everything that is red. Das Auge only sees the colour red. Thus it can only show red, it can only name red, and it can only 'be' red." Potent and overwhelming, Das Auge links perception and voyeurism with the politics of the body, all-seeing eye to all-too-fragile flesh. The exhibition is organized by Gregory Burke, Director of The Power Plant.

Thomas Hirschhorn (born in 1957, Bern) lives and works in Paris. Recent solo exhibitions have taken place at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2004), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2005), Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2005), and Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (2007).

Thomas Hirschhorn
Das Auge
The Eye
Kurator: Gregory Burke