The Kunstverein in Freiburg presents the first institutional solo exhibition by the artist Lorenza Longhi in Germany. Lorenza Longhi was born in 1991 in Italy. She attended Visual Art Master at ECAL in Lausanne and previously studied at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. Longhi lives and works in Zürich, Switzerland. In 2021 we documented her solo show at Kunsthalle Zürich. In Freiburg, she presents new paintings and sculptures and a huge site specific floor piece in the unique exhibition space of the Kunstverein. The “Marienbad” is a historic building that originally served as a public swimming pool. Constructed in the Art Nouveau style in 1902, it was a popular place for swimming enthusiasts until the 1970s. Lorenza Longhi’s exhibition is titled “Dazzle Dazzle” and runs until March 9, 2025.
Lorenza Longhi: Dazzle Dazzle / Kunstverein Freiburg. Freiburg / Breisgau (Germany), January 24, 2025.
“Lorenza’s works imply the reproduction or direct utilization of specific objects and visual elements – from furniture pieces to elements taken from dvertisements and communication strategies. She chooses elements which act as a statement that refer to, and serve as, power structures. This is obtained through re-production with crafty techniques and methods, using non traditional yet highly specific materials and labors. In a way all this is an objectified performance and reenactment of certain kinds of economies that stand behind specific facades. All the elements taken in account are recombined together, the reference are sometimes very present other times smoothed down and dispersed in order to augment their sneakiness. So certain times they speak to niches some other they impose their truism. Her objects and paintings have hoarding tendencies, and react to the immediacy of power through this insane way of resistance – the hoarding and craftiness – and a somehow ironic perishable minimal perfection, making of the moment something of permanence.” (source: artist website)
Exhibition text (in German):
Ankommen im Nachklang einer rauschenden Feier. Licht an, die Party ist vorbei. Reste dessen, was einst ungehemmter Luxus war, funkeln verstreut umher – Zeugnisse einer Opulenz, die sich in Ruinen verwandelt hat. In Dazzle Dazzle kommen High und Low in einem Debütantinnenball zusammen, bei dem der Glamour des Luxus seine ausgehöhlten Protokolle offenlegt. Dem prunkvollen Zurschaustellen wird in seinen Überresten nachgespürt und Verschwendung sowohl als psychologisches Bedürfnis als auch als ökonomische Bedingung offenbart. Licht an, die Party ist vorbei, ja … aber der Rhythmus hat nicht aufgehört: seine dysfunktionale Organisation wird lediglich akzentuiert, so dass er sich einem Rave annähert und die Fähigkeit behält zu glänzen.
Lorenza Longhi bedient sich der Beobachtung, Nachahmung und des Dilettantismus als Strategien, um sich mit Geschmack und seinen Implikationen auseinanderzusetzen. So eignet sie sich die Sprache der Mode an und zeigt auf, wie Begehren in der Konsumgesellschaft konstruiert, präsentiert und performt wird. Sie kapert Verfahren der mechanischen Reproduktion und erschöpften Standardisierung, schafft Lebendigkeit aus dem, was als klassischer Albtraum wahrgenommen werden könnte. Die Dekoration nimmt hier einen besonderen Platz ein, indem sie unbekümmert die Macht beansprucht, scheinbar festgelegte Systeme aufzubrechen und Begriffe von Wert und Beständigkeit umzudefinieren. Auf Zehenspitzen zwischen Pailletten, Schablonen, Schleifen und Schrottgreifern wandeln … sie geben das Tempo der nächsten Zusammenkunft vor.
Exhibition text (in English – translation):
Arriving in the afterglow of a roaring party. Lights on, the party is over. Remnants of what was once uninhibited luxury sparkle scattered around – evidence of an opulence that has turned to ruins. In Dazzle Dazzle, high and low come together in a debutante ball where the glamor of luxury reveals its hollowed-out protocols. The pompous display is traced in its remnants and waste is revealed as both a psychological need and an economic condition. Lights on, the party is over, yes … but the rhythm has not stopped: its dysfunctional organization is merely accentuated, so that it approaches a rave and retains the ability to shine.
Lorenza Longhi uses observation, imitation and dilettantism as strategies to deal with taste and its implications. In this way, she appropriates the language of fashion and shows how desire is constructed, presented and performed in consumer society. She hijacks processes of mechanical reproduction and exhausted standardization, creating liveliness from what could be perceived as a classic nightmare. Decoration occupies a special place here, blithely claiming the power to break open seemingly fixed systems and redefine notions of value and permanence. Tiptoeing between sequins, stencils, bows and scrap grabs … they set the pace for the next gathering.
