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Daniel Roth, dessin
This German artist works out his stories from an existing monument or geographical place and uses various means of expression to construct his narrative. Models, drawings, photographs and texts are displayed side by side like an accumulation of clues, enabling viewers to mentally create a new realistic environment, the setting for a story that is wholly invented.
A site submerged beneath water or concrete serves as the starting point for a journey through real and imaginary spaces as well as between geographically distant places. Tunnels, canals and underground passageways, motifs that are found throughout Roth’s work, allow the artist to connect these spaces virtually. As in a dream, borders disappear and distances are transformed, becoming meaningless.
The presentation of various clues and indications is essential for it is the path visitors follow that will enable them to reconstruct the narrative. One often has to push open a door, pull out a drawer or pass through a tunnel to discover a new element of the story. The visualization of the scenario is limited to presenting the spaces; no characters appear, only the traces of their passage remain. Viewers are invited to relive the narrative, reinhabit these places and attempt to discern the limit between reality and fiction.
For L’Image habitable, Roth has produced a sequel to a piece he showed at the 2001 Berlin Biennial, “The town under concrete.”
Visitors are invited to a journey inside the brain of an owl, the hero of this narrative who settles in the Black Forest, the artist’s native region.
Zilla Leutenegger
Born in 1969 in Schramberg, Germany. Lives and works in Karlsruhe.
Two solo shows have been devoted to Daniel Roth in 2002 at the Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe, and Michele Macarone Inc., New York. In 2000 Mr. Roth mounted his project “Das Linke Bein des Offiziers” at Glaris’s Kunsthaus, and in 1999 another entitled “Wie die Leichen der Mafia vorbeitreiben” at the Galerie Johnen & Schöttle, Cologne. He has also taken part in the following group shows, “Ars Viva Landschaft 2002,” Kunstverein Zwickau, Kunstverein Augsburg and Kunstverein Hamburg (2002); “Under the Bridge along the River” at the Casino Luxembourg; “Futureworld” at the Abteiberg Museum, Mönchengladbach; “CTRL Space” at ZKM, Karlsruhe; and “Berlin Biennale” at Kunst-Werke Berlin (2001).
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