Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter: One against All [Uno contro tutti]

Floor 3, Theater

In this performance, Michèle Graf and Selina Grüter re-enact an episode of the Maurizio Costanzo Show, a talk show that has been broadcast on Italian television since 1982. A regular series of episodes entitled Uno contro tutti features guests whose views divide public opinion, and who must field questions from journalists and commentators seated in the front rows of the studio audience. Graf and Grüter reduce one of these scenarios in order to question the roles of cast, audience and stage as such.

One against All [Uno contro tutti] by Graf and Grüter emerges from a series of works, including Contradictory Statements (2017–ongoing), that engage semantic contradiction, negation and its productive potential. Graf and Grüter appropriate drawings, videos, documentations, and other found materials, re-examining them outside their original context.

Michèle Graf (b. 1987) and Selina Grüter (b. 1991) are based in Berlin and Zurich. Recent exhibitions and performances include Contradictory Statements, Fri Art, Kunsthalle Freiburg (2018); Lunar Intervals, Swiss Institute/Emily Harvey Foundation, New York City (2017); Throws and Catches, Plymouth Rock, Zurich (2017); in relation to a Spectator:, Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover (2017); Rehearsing Intra-Activity, LISTE Performance Project, Basel (2017) and Unruly Relations, Kunsthaus Glarus (2016). Graf and Grüter co-run the artist-run space Taylor Macklin in Zurich.

This program is organized in conjunction with the exhibition Omnipresence, on view at The Kitchen (May 24 – June 16), curated by Elisa R. Linn, Joseph Lubitz, Ellen Pavey, and Manabu Yahagi, Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellows in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program (ISP).

Tickets are required ($8 adults; $6 members, students, and seniors). Members: please log in to reserve tickets.

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Support is provided in part by Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung.