25 May 2010

Ernst Schering Foundation: 'a whiter shade of pale' by Leni Hoffmann

On May 26, 2010, the exhibition 'a whiter shade of pale' by Leni Hoffmann will open at the Project Space of the Ernst Schering Foundation.

In her sculptural-architectural works, the artist breaks down disciplinary boundaries by making brilliant use not just of color, her main means of expression, but also of a variety of industrially produced materials: in addition to steel tubes, plastic tarps, dyed roughcast and brightly colored electric cables, her sculptures employ large concrete elements jutting into space. Another material she uses is vividly colored plasticine, transforming extensive wall and floor spaces into dancing reliefs.

The public plays a key role in Leni Hoffmann's work. How her works interact with the surrounding environment can only be fully grasped if the viewers continually change their points of view. 'The element of movement [...] reveals itself here as the central moment of a work which develops a complex network at various levels of perception: a game of proximity and distance, of immediate visibility and its withdrawal, of stasis and movement,'(*) writes Martin Engler, curator of Leni Hoffmann's exhibition 'a whiter shade of pale' at the Ernst Schering Foundation. In some works, the public is involved in a 'formative' capacity – or, as Hoffmann says, becomes a documented part of the work, for example by walking on, and thus leaving tracks, in the plasticine floor works.

For the exhibition 'a whiter shade of pale' at the Project Space of the Ernst Schering Foundation, Leni Hoffmann created a space-specific installation, which will be acquired by the Ernst Schering Foundation and later donated to the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. On the occasion of the opening of the Städel's extension for post-1945 art in 2011, Hoffmann's work will be re-created in modified form and displayed in a prominent position.

(*) Engler, Martin: 'linien und farben,' in: leni hoffmann. beautiful one day – perfect the next. arbeiten 1997–2004, Katalog Kunstverein Hannover, Freiburg, 2004, pp. 244 – 247.