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We are proud to announce the third solo exhibition of Israeli artist Keren Cytter (*1977) at our gallery! For the first time in Switzerland, Cytter presents her new three channel video installation ""Cross.Flowers.Rolex"". In addition, a wide range of previous films is available for private viewing. A selection of drawings completes the exhibition. In their digitalized esthetic, these works on paper allude to motifs and slogans of film and advertising industries.

Keren Cytter first displayed her video installation "Cross.Flowers.Rolex" at the exhibition taking place at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin on occasion of the award "Preis der Nationalgalerie" für junge Kunst 2009. The basic concept of the videos is based on several shocking internet "news". According to these reports, three uncanny incidents occurred beginning of 2009: a woman is shot in the head only to get up and calmly serve tea, a man jumps out of the fifth-story window of a skyscraper twice but survives, a third person is supposedly murdered openly in the street with "eleven knife stabs in five seconds".

Cytter let these sensationalistic reports be re-enacted by actors, focusing on the theatrical staging instead of veiling it. Accordingly, the videos are characterized by an experimental narrative style similar to her prior works. Cytter analyzes the consequences of a society under constant infiltration of mass media by investigating how strongly our patterns of behavior and private relationships relate to cinema-stereotypes. Her films masterfully play with - and on - the clichés of violence and death we have assimilated from TV and cinema. Cytter, an author in her own right, wrote the screenplay, which reveals the major mass media impact on our everyday language. Accompanied by stirring soundtracks by Thomas Myrmel and Ferrante and Teicher, these films turn the original stories into poetic, surreal tales.

Keren Cytter: Cross.Flowers.Rolex, 2009

3 channel video installation, 4'47" digital video, 3 DVDs
Courtesy: SCHAU ORT. Elisabeth Kaufmann + Christiane Büntgen, Zürich
© Keren Cytter

Click on image to enlarge.

Characteristic for Cytter's work is the interplay between fact and fiction, the overlapping of reality and fantasy. The incidents are fragmented into small pieces and scattered throughout all three films - just like the mirror shards and glass slivers appearing again and again. Rather than depicting real events, these videos are meant to be allegories of human emotions and metaphors of our daily drama and social disintegration. This installation can be regarded as yet another part of Cytter's ongoing investigation of the influence of ever-present media culture on interpersonal relationships.

Keren Cytter (*1977) began her art studies in her birthplace Tel Aviv and continued them from 2002 onwards in Amsterdam, thanks to the stipend "de Ateliers Stichting 63". Today, Cytter lives and works in Berlin. In her videos, she analyzes human failings and relationship tragedies, as well as the influence of mass media on our society. In many cases, Cytter's films hark back to cinema classics or literary masterpieces. Video is by no means her only medium of expression. The artist also works with drawings, theater production, and performance/dance. She is not only the author of her video scripts, but has also written several novels. In addition to countless participations at group exhibitions at international galleries, museums and film festivals - amongst others "Making Worlds" curated by Daniel Birnbaum at Venice Biennial 2009 - Keren Cytter's works were presented at various substantial solo exhibitions at institutions, such as: Frac Ile-de-France/Le Plateau, Paris and X-Initiative, New York (both 2009), Centro Huarte de Arte Contemporaneo (2008), Stuk Kunstcentrum Leuven and Mumok, Vienna (both 2007), Kunst-Werke, Berlin (2006), Kunsthalle Zurich and Frankfurter Kunstverein (both 2005), Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam (2004). Keren Cytter has been honored by several stipends and prizes: 2002 de Ateliers Stichting 63, 2006 Baloise art prize, 2008/09 Ars Viva, 2008 prize Bolzano short film festival, 2009 shortlisted for Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst, Berlin. Since 2008, Cytter has been touring around the world with the dance / theater / performance group she founded: "Dance International Europe Now" (D.I.E. Now).