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Cécile Colle}{Ralf Nuhn

Strategies of Deception

16 November until 15 December 2012

PV: 15 November, 7 - 9pm

Strategies of Deception is the first London solo exhibition for the Franco-German artist partnership of Cécile Colle}{Ralf Nuhn. Composed as an experiment to critically take stock of their artistic activity, the exhibition pivots around the large modular sculpture Exit-Wall (2010), set up within the upper gallery as both a private spatial division and public beacon.

The balance of the exhibition is an exhaustive attempt to utilise the considerable amount of surplus materials and energy produced in creating Exit-Wall, posing a question of whether art creation truly allows us to gain critical distance from the materialism and growth-addiction of capitalist society. These varied remains, entitled Collateral Damage, ask if it is possible to resolve the inherent contradictions between art’s material and symbolic value.

Installation view

Installation view

Installation view

Cécile Colle}{Ralf Nuhn have shared a practice since 2003. By reworking the (im)possibilities of exchange in daily life, they aim to understand our relationship with a technologically oversaturated world, yet allow the spectator to determine their ultimate position to this context. Their exhibitions include Media-Scape at the Mestrovic Pavilion in Zagreb (2012), Alternative Now at the Wroclaw Biennale, Poland (2011), Exit Wall (the sky is the limit) at Bureau d’Art et de Recherche in Roubaix FR (2009),Distraction at Haus am Lützowplatz in Berlin (2009), and Human Doub2t at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan (2005).

Cécile Colle (b 1974 Lyon FR) lives in Roubaix. She obtained a DNSEP (Master of Fine Art) from the National Art School of Bourges in 1999, and a Master 2 Recherche Art de l’Image et du Vivant (MRes Art) at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2012. Currently, she is studying towards a PhD at Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III.

Ralf Nuhn (b 1971 near Kassel DE) lives in Roubaix and London. He is currently a Lecturer and Research Fellow in Fine Art at the School of Art & Design, Middlesex University (London), from where he also obtained a PhD in 2006.