To make her expansive sculptures, Toni Schmale (b. Hamburg, 1980; lives and works in Vienna) forcefully bends steel components out of their normed shapes prescribed by ISO and other standards. The results are sometimes contradictory sculptures that quote the original functional forms yet refuse to assume one of them. The manipulation of the standardized steel pipes, their contortion and assembly in novel configurations, brings out the fragility and vulnerability at the heart of any object and material. In the associative space of her works, Schmale establishes connections to bodies.
Following her solo exhibition (link zu basis webseite einfügen) at basis e.V. from May to July 2024, the publication of the same name is now forthcoming. With 'opferblech,' an art book has been created that explores the production process of the large-scale steel sculptures presented in the exhibition on a visual level and provides a picture-based introduction to the artistic practice of Toni Schmale. The book serves as an extension of the exhibition while also being a coherent work. It breaks away from conventional catalog structures, keeping the visual and textual elements fluidly connected, and is inspired by the format of a magazine. The textual contributions deepen the discursive aspects and spaces that are inherent in Schmale's sculptures and in which they exist.
Kristina Dreit’s essay examines the significations of steel as a physical material and explores the queer surplus meanings associated with it. Moira Hille retraces the etymology of the term cruising and sketches the concept’s political import beyond the sexual encounter. The curator and editor Carlotta Döhn explores abstraction as a formalist practice on the basis of the mythological figure of Aphrodite and locates Schmale’s sculpture group gefährt*innen in an art-historical context. The centrefold starschnitt poster, designed by Wally Salner and Maria Ziegelböck, is made up of unpublished photographs from the CRUISING TOUR 2024.
The book has been published by DISTANZ and is available now.
- Editor: Carlotta Döhn, basis e.V.
- Graphic Design: Max Schropp
- Language: Deutsch / Englisch
- ISBN: 978-3-95476-723-6
- Price: 36,00 €
With contributions by:
- Kristina Dreit
- Carlotta Döhn
- Moira Hille
- Wally Salner/Maria Ziegelböck
