Ain't No Mountain High Enough - curated by Mari Otberg: Dec 15, 2021 - Feb 19, 2022
This group exhibition featured the work of 33 international contemporary artists who were asked to present a work of theirs that dealt with an idea of “Mountain.” The idea was to offer a fresh perspective on a topic that is so often filled with cliched approaches.
The idea of Mountains represents a paradox for humans and is deeply loaded with symbolic meaning. Mountains represent a seeming permanence, as if they have always been there. But, geology tells us that mountains are actually distortions in the fabric of the land, formed at the intersection of tectonic plates. As such rather than being permanent, they are actually geological relics of change.
As multi-faceted, complex geographical places, they force fragmentation in cultures, language, and diet. Simultaneously, a place of Heimat, but also a place for the Heimlos. Mountains, with their foreboding mass, and difficult terrain are often national borders, and lie in a liminal zone between cultures and languages. Or they are mystical places in various religious traditions where divine interventions happen. In a world populated by billions of humans, the mountains are also acts of resistance. Here nature defies the relentless onslaught of human building.
The exhibition is about the idea of moving beyond the conceptual obstacle of how a mountain should be represented and embracing the rich potential of the idea.
