Spaces are Shells, are Skins is a retrospective of Heidi Bucher, one of the most important and ground-breaking artists of the international neo-avant-garde. Ranging from architectural and spatial installations to drawings, textiles, and performative practices, Bucher’s oeuvre bears witness to resistance towards hierarchical structures and advocates for the liberation of the body. Bucher’s explorations of hierarchical spatial structures include ‘skinnings’ of her father’s study (Gentlemen’s Study, 1979), and her ancestral home (Floor Skin, 1980). These are accompanied by the consulting rooms of Dr. Binswanger, a psychiatrist who specialized in hysteria (The Parlour Office of Doctor Binswanger, 1988). The film footage juxtaposed with her major ‘skinning’ works, provides a vivid record of Bucher tearing away the fabric latex pieces from the surface of the architectural spaces. For Bucher, the act of ‘skinning’ was a process of producing the skin of architecture as an interface to the world.
Trained in fashion and textiles, the moving body was an integral part of Bucher’s artistic practice. Bucher describes her work as a process of transformation from which the body is liberated from oppression and discrimination. For the first time since Bucher’s death, Bodywrappings have been reproduced by the Art Sonje Center in collaboration with The Estate of Heidi Bucher. Created during her stay in California in the early 1970s, these foam bodysuits celebrated her novel approach to sculpture which took shape in the form of performance. This exhibition is part of the recent curatorial movements that recontextualized Heidi Bucher’s practice for our time. As the first retrospective of Heidi Bucher in Asia, it combines archival footage with over 130 works of drawing, sculpture, and installation.