Unseen Amsterdam
Solo Booth, Galerie Robert Morat, 2022

A series of enigmatic and decontextualised objects by Lena Amuat & Zoë Meyer 

During Unseen, Robert Morat Galerie will show work by the Swiss artist duo Lena Amuat and Zoë Meyer. In their photographs, they offer a new life to objects that have been forgotten or neglected. Objects that were once deemed important, but have been gathering dust for years now. Found in the archives or in a museum. In a university depot or as part of an anthropological or encycopedical collection. Mathematical or medical teaching models or rare scientific objects. Items from the Institut für klassische Archäologie in Vienna, as well as — a tad more prosaic — illegal souvenirs that were confiscated by Swiss customs. Over the years, the artists have captured objects on location in countries including Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France and Italy.
These artifacts and models are often used to represent something in the world, but in the work of Amuat and Meyer, they become decontextualised, (re-)venerated and placed on a pedestal, but inherently separated from the why of it. Enhanced by the power of bold and vibrant colours or crisp white backgrounds, these pieces gain enigmatic new contexts. Their mysterious works might show a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes, to offer a sense of scale alongside a marble column about three times its height. They feature elements like a sculptural lipstick tube, taxidermy, meteorite models or a Coca Cola can on top of archeological finds. Elements from science, advertising, religion, art and nature are isolated or combined effortlessly in what could be described as encyclopedic cabinets of curiosities. In the work of Amuat and Meyer, the past and present enter into a new relationship.
Lena Amuat & Zoë Meyer: “We devise a subjective world-view in which elements from science, religion, nature, and art are re-combined. We focus on diverging strategies of collecting and varying models of representation and attempt to reformulate scientific conceptions from an artistic point of view.”

In their practice, the artists make us rethink the ambiguous relationships between scientific models and reality. What simplifications come into play when you interpret and visualise an idea into a model? And on the other hand, what role do aesthetic processes play in the creation of knowledge? Amuat and Meyer also play with dichotomies like original versus copy, fact versus fiction, as well as signifiers of importance versus the inconsequential. And as a viewer, you’re once again invited to question the role of photography as a documentary tool.
A large part of the artists process is quite analogue, from staging a tableau, shooting on 35mm film and printing by hand in the dark-room to hand-painting their frames in an exact matching colour. The process of shooting is often preceded by meticulous research and their process has been likened to that of archaeologists. Occasionally, the images are then manipulated by digital means, with a disorienting effect.

August 15, 2022, by Flor Linckens

Unseen Amsterdam