Natascha Sadr Haghighian: SOLO SHOW

SOLO SHOW is a research-based exhibition project initiated by artist Natascha Sadr Haghighian upon MAMbo's invitation to present a one-person show in its premises.

SOLO SHOW was developed by Sadr Haghighian jointly with mixedmedia berlin, a Berlin production company. mixedmedia berlin produces works for well-established, international artists but usually stays unnamed and invisible to the public. On the occasion of SOLO SHOW the artist collaborated with mixedmedia berlin's head, Uwe Schwarzer, to create a project that reflects on the terms of production in contemporary art.

By inventing a fictional artist named Robbie Williams (the artist, not singer) and premiering at MAMbo hisfirst museum presentation, the exhibition project conceived by Sadr Haghighian with mixedmedia berlin renders the ways of producing art with a production company discernible as well as scrutinizes the myth of the 'Solo Artist'.

The exhibition is divided into two separate halves with entrances from opposite ends. The introductory wall text indicates the first exhibition as the solo show of Robbie Williams while the second carries a list of over 50 names. Five objects that resemble jumping fences for a show jumping are installed in the first space. The other space is empty apart from a set of eight speakers that play the moving sound of a horse galloping around the room and jumping over imaginary fences.

SOLO SHOW is at once a fictional solo show and its own deconstruction. It reflects on the critical contradictions and narrative potentialities of this specific exhibition format within the context of contemporary artistic practices and investigates the solo show's ambiguous role within the institutional framework, the art market and its increasing demand for the huge and spectacular.

A new artist book was published by Koenig Books London to coincide with SOLO SHOW including documentation and contributions by Natascha Sadr Haghighian, exhibition curator Andrea Viliani, Seda Naiumad (for the critic and curator Tirdad Zolghadr), as well as two extended conversations respectively with Uwe Schwarzer and the fictional artist Robbie Williams. 

SOLO SHOW is part of the MAMbo Practices (No Dance Lessons) curatorial program, launched by MAMbo upon a different title in the two years that led up to and accompanied its opening. Aiming to explore the contemporary role of art institutions and to launch a lively debate between the institutional activities and the practices of contemporary artists, critics and curators, MAMbo Practices (No Dance Lessons) is an ongoing series of solo shows, seminars, events and books.

SOLO SHOW Robbie Williams

/

SOLO SHOW Achim Kayser Alberto Storari Alexander Niklasch Andrea Schmidt Andrea Viliani Anna Rossi Anne-Pascale Frohn Arash Mohtadi Bertram Sturm Cajus Pietschmann Detlef Brall Elisa Maria Cerra Erik Wiegand Eva Fuchs Fabio Di Camillo Frank Kiefel Franz König Gerard McGettrick Gianfranco Maraniello Giulia Pezzoli Hengst Ines Schaber Jennifer Chert Jens Queren Jeremy Carden Jo Hany Jörg Wambsganß Juliane Bauer Kathleen Knitter Kirsa Geiser La Vina Markus Schmacht Michael Müller Mynou Dietrichmeier Neville Reichman Natascha Sadr Haghighian Otto Pierre Maite Pollux Rainer Jordan Robert Schlicht Roger Sandy Kaltenborn Sebastian Summa Stefan Kessels Stefan Pente Steffen Puschke Stephan Hempel Thomas Huesmann Thomas Wendler Tirdad Zolghadr Uliana Zanetti Ute Waldhausen Uwe Schwarzer Viola Eickmeier William Wheeler

Natascha Sadr Haghighian
SOLO SHOW