Arne Schmitt
28.06.2025 - 24.08.2025
Fragebogen (Zürich) / Questionnaire (Zurich)
Jacky Strenz
Arne Schmitt's fifth exhibition at the gallery is - like his first - a montage of image and text. It is located in Zurich, his new adopted hometown, and its theme is based precisely there. Inspired by Max Frisch's "Questionnaires" from the 1960s, Schmitt himself devised 25 questions about our relationships with cities: based on the idea that our relationships with cities are similar to our relationships with people. An assumption that allows for complex reflection on both - and for Schmitt challenged a photographic answer, or rather, further photographic questions.
The 24 panels of the work "Questionnaire (Zurich)" can all be understood as questions: one half is posed in verbal form, the other in photographic form. Although they address the viewers in different ways, they share the fact that they can be answered both in a highly individual and personal way and in a general and distanced manner. Further questionnaires are planned, which - translated into language and confronted with the very own essence of the respective city - will turn out just as differently as our reactions to people do.
Arne Schmitt (*1984 in Mayen), lives and works in Zurich
2005-2011 Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig; 2011-2012 Hogeschool Sint-Lukas, Brussels. 2014-2015 Visiting professor at HfbK Hamburg. Solo exhibitions (selection): "Räson", Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen (2020); "Zeichen der Zeit", Kunstraum München (2019); "Ursprung, Gebrauch, Erhöhung", Bielefelder Kunstverein (2018); "Alleinanspruch", Temporary Gallery, Cologne (2017); "Wenn Gesinnung Form wird / Verflechtungen", Raum für Fotografie, Sprengel Museum Hannover (2012). Group exhibitions (selection): Neues Kunsthaus Ahrenshoop (2024); Neues Museum Nürnberg (2022); NRW-Forum Düsseldorf (2022); Sprengel Museum Hannover (2020); Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Stipendium. Die Ausstellung", Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2019); "Vom Leben in Industrielandschaften - Eine fotografische Bestandsaufnahme", Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren (2019); "Kunstpreis der Boettcherstrasse 2018", Kunsthalle Bremen (2018); Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Heidelberg (2017); "Von den Strömen der Stadt", Städtisches Museum Abteiberg (2016). Prizes and scholarships (selection): Working scholarship from Kunststiftung NRW (2021); Böttcherstrasse Art Prize (2018); Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Scholarship (2016); Working scholarship from Kunststiftung NRW (2015); Documentary Photography Award from the Wüstenrot Foundation (2013). Collections (selection): Museum Folkwang, Essen; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Sprengel Museum, Hanover;. Fotomuseum Winterthur (CH); Kunsthalle, Bremen; Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, Frankfurt/Main; Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf; Kunsthaus NRW, Kornelimünster; Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung, Hanover; Collection of Contemporary Art of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Arne Schmitt has been represented by Jacky Strenz since 2015.
Jacky Strenz
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