Auslese (Meisterwerke)
(2014)

Table with gloves, chemicals, measuring jug, funnel, bucket, water canister, cotton buds, insect needles, cloth. Converted slide projector on base, 16 insect boxes each 51 x 42 x 6 cm. Aren't they wonderful, the paintings by Pissarro, Vermeer, Picasso and van Gogh? The originals hang in famous museums, top-class collections and much-visited temporary exhibitions all over the world. But we know them best from illustrations in print media, art books, the Internet or, if you're not too young for it, from the framed slides from school lessons and university seminars. This brought the art of the centuries into the classroom, projected brightly onto the wall, usually oversized and pin-sharp. In the age of full HD projectors, smartphones and eReaders, however, the usefulness of these teaching aids has largely become obsolete. So what are these slides still good for? Anna-Sabina Zürrer (*1981) drew inspiration for the cabinet exhibition from an objet trouvé. She came across several boxes of old slides of famous works of art in a school building. The artist was able to take the collection with her, sift through and organize it and selected parts of it. This selection forms the basis for the work Auslese (Masterpieces). Anna-Sabina Zürrer caused a sensation with her work Fadeout at last year's annual exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Lucerne. The unrolled film reel as an object on the wall and the Super 8 film tape piled up on the floor irritated and inspired the audience and the jury in equal measure. In 2014, Anna-Sabina Zürrer is now showing a gradually growing installation in the Kabinett exhibition, which is the result of her Sunday performances at the Kunstmuseum. For several years now, Zürrer's artistic work has been dedicated to memory, conservation and dealing with the past in general. Precisely these aspects also play a central role in the work Auslese (Meisterwerke): every Sunday following the public tour, the artist invites visitors to a performance at the Kunstmuseum Luzern to wash out slides of recognized masterpieces with a specially prepared slide projector and a mixture of chemical liquid and water. Anna-Sabina Zürrer makes the Picassos, Mondrians and Chagalls disappear before the eyes of the audience. The famous paintings disintegrate, trickle down or evaporate in a few minutes. All that remains is a layer of blue paint, which Zürrer then wipes away with a cotton swab. The artist thus creates a poetic storm of images of modern times. The emptied slides are mounted on pins and presented in identical insect boxes, as we know them from the Natural History Museum. Over the course of the exhibition, this selection of washed-out slides gradually grows into a gallery of faded masterpieces of art history.