Bonner Kunstverein is pleased to announce two new solo exhibitions by Lotte Maiwald and Franca Scholz, recipients of the 2019 Peter Mertes Stipendium. As divergent as the artistic approaches and media of this year's recipients may appear at first glance, they are both concerned with the relationship and dependence between the human body and its external environment.
Lotte Maiwald's paintings and sculptures, some of which are expansive others intimate in form, are based on three basic elements – a person, a flag and a solar-powered surveillance column, appearing in different constellations. Although their concrete reference to place and time cannot be pinned down, the depictions refer to the process of marking, delimiting and securing a certain terrain. At the same time, the isolated figures on individual planets reveal the absurd extent of these self-involved tactics.
With her video projections, performances and installations comprised of textile and anthropomorphic objects, Franca Scholz addresses corporeal relations between intimacy, distance, dominance and exclusion. Scholz's practice is based on both self-authored texts and quotes from auto-fictional literature by female writers, language which manifests in space as spoken or written words. As fragmented narratives about desire, domesticity and (in)visibility, they allude to the mutual fragility and incompleteness of linguistic and physical representation.
Established in 1985, the Peter Mertes Stipendium awards 12,000 Euros annually and is one of the most renowned opportunities for young artists in the German Rhineland. Previous recipients include Monika Baer (1998), Matti Braun (1999), Thea Djordjadze (2001), Carsten Höller (1995), Friedrich Kunath (2001), Gregor Schneider (1996), and Gert and Uwe Tobias (2004).
Lotte Maiwald and Franca Scholz were selected by a jury comprising Michelle Cotton (former Director, Bonner Kunstverein), Nikola Dietrich (Director, Kölnischer Kunstverein), Anthony DiPaola (artist and board member, Bonner Kunstverein) and Anne Pöhlmann (artist and Peter Mertes recipient 2013).
Lotte Maiwald (b. 1988, Hechingen) completed his studies in the class of Peter Doig at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 2018. Her work has been exhibited at Kunsthaus ACUD, Berlin (2020), K21 Ständehaus Düsseldorf (2019) and Simultanhalle, Köln (2016). She lives in Düsseldorf.
Franca Scholz (b. 1988, Munich) completed her studies in the class of Rita McBride at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 2016. Her work has been exhibited at Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2020), Kunstmuseum Solingen (2018) and Tanzhaus NRW, Düsseldorf (2017). She lives in Cologne.
