Clothes with hangers, 3 platforms, publications, posters
Variable dimensions
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
"Louise Guerra (2013–2017) was a collective project, an artistic fiction, research on the writer and artist Louise, and an intervention into linear writing of biographies and history/stories. She was initiated as an agent against individualism and the belief in authorship within the arts and, in the course of her existence, assumed the form of artist, curator, educator and researcher."
Clothes and platforms make up the oeuvre of the fictitious artist Louise Guerra. Each item of clothing was designed, sewn, knitted, woven, sprayed, painted and used in performances by a Louise Guerra herself. Some have four sleeves and two openings for the head, so were worn by two people at the same time. The hand-embroidered signature LG is sometimes seen.
"Louise Guerra is a figure whose practice harks back to other figures from different eras of history including Louise Michel, Louise Bourgeois, Louise Nevelson, Louise Glück, Louise Mack or Louise Lawler, with whom she shares her first name (…). The initial focus in her studio was on painting and authorship, but it soon became clear that Louise Guerra's interests called for a new artistic methodology and practice that equally incorporated aesthetic theory, everyday life, politics and education. One forerunner whose collective identity fascinated Louise Guerra at the time is the readymade artist Claire Fontaine."
In 2018, Kathrin Siegrist and Chantal Küng made the Louise Guerra Archive available for the exhibition Republique Géniale at the Kunstmuseum Bern, presenting it for discussion. The Louise Guerra Archive (LGA) was intended to serve in this exhibition as a "living archive" and was activated by different people in several sessions.
The hangers on which the clothes were hung from the ceiling were made by the LGA in 2019 as part of the exhibition Keine richtige Schule (Not a Real School) at DER TANK in Basel. They were welded together from scrap metal and have a clearly defined purpose, but also a sculptural aesthetic.
Susanne Kudorfer
"I paint and others paint with me, instead of me and for me. I write and others write with me, instead of me and for me. We publish my work. There it is. I look at it and we are surprised. I tend to agree with Jean Dubuffet, who was here long before me and whom I shall henceforth call Louise Guerra: 'True art is never where it is expected to be: in the place where no one considers it, nor names it. Art hates to be recognized and greeted by its name.'"
Louise Guerra
