With the exhibition “do not walk outside this area”, the Slovakian artist Roman Ondák is realizing his project for the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin as Deutsche Bank’s “Artist of the Year”. Air travelers who have ever sat on the window seat of an aircraft near the wing, know the warning, that is written on the deck: “do not walk outside this area.” If you then wondered how it is, walking on the wing of an airplane, now you have the occasion to do so. The centerpiece of Roman Ondák’s show at the Deutsche Guggenheim is a wing of a Boeing 737-500 airliner, transformed into a catwalk.
In addition to this walkable sculpture, the show presents works on paper and installation based on the subject of traveling in two exhibition rooms. Among the works is for example a series of seven postcards and sixteen fictitious newspaper articles made in 2010 for the exhibition Un’Espressione Geografica in the renowned Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, titled Balancing at the Toe of the Boot. The aforementioned wing connects two exhibition rooms like a bridge.
Roman Ondák: do not walk outside this area / Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin. Opening reception, April 25, 2012. Video by Astrid Gleichmann.
Watch also:
- Interview with Roman Ondák at Frieze Art Fair 2011 on the occasion of the artist’s selection as “Artist of the Year”.
- Roman Ondák at the Venice Art Biennale 2009.
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