Mai-Thu Perret. The Adding Machine

Aargauer Kunsthaus Mai-Thu Perret, “Untitled,” 2010. In the spring of 2011 the Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau will mount a major solo exhibition of Swiss artist Mai-Thu Perret. The exhibition, which incorporates sculpture, installation, painting, video and performance as well as text-based work, is the most comprehensive presentation to date of this internationally renowned artist. In recent years Mai-Thu Perret (b. 1976) has drawn considerable attention in Europe and the U.S. for her ambitious, multidisciplinary artistic work, which comprises sculpture, installation, painting, video, performance, and text-based pieces with a wide underlying frame of cultural and art historical references. The Geneva-based artist is particularly interested in 20th century avant-garde movements and Utopian concepts of life. The solo exhibition at the Aargauer Kunsthaus titled The Adding Machine highlights the multifaceted approach of Mai-Thu Perret’s artistic practice, presenting numerous works that were created specifically for this show, as well as some older works. The artist’s wish that the individual works in the exhibition be perceived as connected rather than isolated is already indicated in the exhibition title, The Adding Machine, a reference to the “cut-up” technique of American writer William S. Burroughs. Burroughs used to cut up the pages of his manuscripts and subsequently rearrange them at will according to the random principle. The result is an associative narrative structure similar to the one underlying Mai-Thu Perret’s exhibition: their juxtaposition opens up new cross-references and meanings between the individual works. Curator Madeleine Schuppli, Director, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau Catalogue Published in conjunction with the exhibition, the catalogue Mai-Thu Peret – The Adding Machine includes essays by Madeleine Schuppli and Diedrich Diederichsen, as well as an exclusive vinyl record produced by Mai-Thu Perret in collaboration with singer Tamara Barnett-Herrin. Edited by Madeleine Schuppli and the Aargauer Kunsthaus.