11 Jun 2013

make.a.match: Reto Steiner + Martin Roth

Reto Steiner + Martin Roth

The Swiss Reto Steiner and the Austrian, New York-based Martin Roth are working together on an exhibition in the framework of the artist collaboration project MAKE.A.MATCH focusing on their main issue: nature. In the former warehouse Erlenmatt in Basel Steiner will construct a structure, a wooden roof made out of materials from his home in the Berner Oberland, referring to production processes in craftsmanship closely related to the local tradition. The rigid wooden structure will be edited by Roth through growing moss, it will become organic.

The nostalgic, familiar image of an old moss-covered roof will shift through the alien setting of the roof sheltered by another building to an object dissociated from its original function. The audience will be confronted with a view as yet never considered at eye level. The protective roof is reduced to the construction of an animate object that is inevitably ahead.


MAKE.A.MATCH is a project based on the idea of a cultural exchange between two artists living and working in different cities.

The curated confrontation of two artistic positions, involving the work and cultural interests of paired-up artists, will take place between artists living in Zurich, Pristine, Tel Aviv, Stockholm and Los Angeles throughout the year 2013. The work of the collaboration will become visible through a project, an exhibition.

The project provides a platform in which an artist living in a city will be confronted by the external view of a visiting artist. The visiting artist will be confronted by the context of the visited artist, including their local traditions and customs; their second nature. The project becomes a platform for discussion and serves as a starting point for mutual exchange: to meet on the basis of cooperation and to find synergies without passing up on the intense engagement of someone's relevant cultural, artistic, and personal background as well as their work. The project leads to a reflection arising from a wider perspective on artists' work and their approach, with the aim of establishing ongoing and lasting artistic and cultural exchanges.