Elina Brotherus, Portrait Series (Gelbe Musik with Sunflowers), 2016 aus der Serie/from the series The Baldessari Assignments, 2016 © Elina Brotherus, Courtesy of Weserburg Museum of Modern Art
Exhibition by Elina Brotherus, Bremen, Germany
Arthur Køpcke proclaimed: “People ask: Why? I ask: Why not?”
Within her exhibition Why not? Elina is following this proclamation, adopting various contemporary art concepts and creating work, in her own unmistakeable style, using herself within almost all of the works.
Brotherus explores the possibilities of photography anew. At the same time, she reviews and updates concepts from earlier generations, including event scores from the international Fluxus movement of the 1960s and 70s. Along with this, she took inspiration from John Baldessari’s idiosyncratic art ideas that he developed for his students: “Disguise yourself as another object – a tree maybe. Or becoming a tree. A big bird?”
The exhibition includes Elina’s new series, Sebaldiana. Memento mori, which was created on Corsica in 2019.
Why not? gives an extended insight into the way Elina Brotherus thinks and and how this leads to her distinctive works.
By Becky Handley
Elina Brotherus, Performance is Cancelled Due to Illness, 2017, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020. Courtesy of Weserberg Museum of Modern Art
Elina Brotherus, Carry a Person to Another Place, 2017 © VG Bild- Kunst, Bonn 2020. Courtesy of Weserberg Museum of Modern Art
Elina Brotherus, Hôtel de Sebald 4/Sebald’s Hotel 4, aus der Serie/from the series Sebaldiana. Momento mori. 2019 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020. Courtesy of Weserberg Museum of Modern Art
