Lutz & Guggisberg present a collection of six charms – five in solid gold, and one gilt silver – that make single pendants on a chain. Each charm is a tiny figure derived from a 3D scan of one of the artists in a costume that has featured in their performance work, embodying the characters of either a Physicist (Physiker), Alchemist (Alchemist), Astronomer (Astronom), Juggler (Gaukler), Philosopher (Philosoph) or Little Pope (Päpstchen). The scan results were further sculpted in wax, so that several of the figures encounter (relatively) huge objects, like Surrealist embellishments: the mountain climber now carries a lump of rock, or the hipster hides under a horse costume, for example. Some seem to be weighed down by these additions; they enhance others. Lutz & Guggisberg compare the transformations to Kafka’s story of a man’s metamorphosis into a giant beetle. Kafka’s protagonist becomes the object of his family’s disgust, but the artists’ figures may be empowered or freed by the changes they have undergone.
Swiss artists Andres Lutz (b. 1968) and Anders Guggisberg (b. 1966) have worked as Lutz & Guggisberg since 1996. Winners of several art awards, their work can be made, salvaged or observed, and the results are often presented…
