Emma Bertuchoz, Manuela Morales Délano, Nicola Genovese, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Tenant of Culture, Young Boy Dancing Group

Gradients of the Grotesque: A Stampede of Crocs, Buffalos and Gazelles

Opening: 06.09.24 from 18:00 06.09.24 – 27.10.24

Please note new ending date is 27.10.

On Saturday 26.10. the exhibition will be closed due to the performance of Emma Bertuchoz taking place in another location.

Embracet 26.10.24 at 16:00 (The time has been changed to 16:00) Meeting point: k Kiosk Bucheggplatz We will then walk together to the destination. Registration is very welcome via lindajensen@lasttango.info Exceptionally Last Tango will be open Sunday 27.10. from 12:00 – 18:00

Gradients of the Grotesque takes a special interest in the grotesque and what kind of space it enables. The grotesque disrupts, confronts, and allows audiences to experience contradiction. Its slipperiness is welcome. With grotesque taboo visions, judgment has no place, bodies are unrestricted, and obsessions are lived out. Our compulsive urge for this exhibition is to fixate on the shoe and its grotesque potential. Gradients of the Grotesque revels in the delight that shoes are communicating vessels—powerful and multifaceted storytellers of culture, embodiment, and perhaps even a reflection of our current times. Crocs, Buffalos and Gazelles, all notorious shoes, and many other footwear ‘creatures’ have stomped their way into our cultural imagination. From Cinderella’s glass slippers to Dude Jellies in The Big Lebowski, they form our perceptions about patriarchy, fashion, coolness, femininity, attraction, and sex. Deploying feminist and queer attitudes the artists in the exhibition make palpable the need to express destabilization, excess, and the body or materials pushed to their limits. The exhibition is an encounter with lived experiences: from the hip-swaying heels of sex workers to the pelvic moves of Elvis, the sad irrationality of our throw-away culture, to the defiant political gesture of sabot-tossing and the vulnerable impact of learning how to fall.

Gradients of the Grotesque, Installation view, 2024. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Emma Bertuchoz, The Impossible Shoes, 2022, Steel, (cotton, foam, strap), dimensions variable. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Emma Bertuchoz, The Impossible Shoes (detail), 2022, Steel, (cotton, foam, strap), dimensions variable. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Gradients of the Grotesque, Installation view, 2024. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Young Boy Dancing Group, YBDG 13/2024, 2024, Shoe, handle, epoxy, 37 × 24 × 4 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Young Boy Dancing Group, YBDG 13/2024 (detail), 2024, Shoe, handle, epoxy, 37 × 24 × 4 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Nicola Genovese, Snack 3, 2024, Salt dough, metal balls, nails, 31 × 26 × 4 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Nicola Genovese, Snack 3(detail), 2024, Salt dough, metal balls, nails, 31 × 26 × 4 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Young Boy Dancing Group, YBDG 27/2023, 2023, Textiles, varnish, epoxy, technical gelatine, shoe, 75 × 51 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Young Boy Dancing Group, YBDG 27/2023 (detail), 2023, Textiles, varnish, epoxy, technical gelatine, shoe, 75 × 51 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Nicola Genovese, Pelvis the pelvis, 2022, Glazed ceramic, metal, Gucci pleather, 120 × 30 × 36 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Nicola Genovese, Pelvis the pelvis (detail), 2022, Glazed ceramic, metal, Gucci pleather, 120 × 30 × 36 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Gradients of the Grotesque, Installation view, 2024. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Left: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Shoe Horn #5, 2015, Mixed media, 31 × 18.5 × 13.5 cm Private collection, Liechtenstein. Right: Young Boy Dancing Group, YBDG 8/2024, 2024, Shoe, Epoxy, 26 × 15 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Shoe Horn #5, 2015, Mixed media, 31 × 18.5 × 13.5 cm Private collection, Liechtenstein. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Young Boy Dancing Group, YBDG 8/2024, 2024, Shoe, Epoxy, 26 × 15 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Young Boy Dancing Group, YBDG 8/2024 (detail), 2024, Shoe, Epoxy, 26 × 15 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Gradients of the Grotesque, Installation view, 2024. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Manuela Morales Délano, Farol (detail), 2024, High heels, wood and leather, 278 ×50 × 10 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Left: Tenant of Culture, Puzzlecut Boot Miscellaneous (2), 2021, Recycled, shoes, handbags, padding, shoe last, glue, thread, 40 × 34 × 12 cm. Right: Tenant of Culture, Flash s/s (Acetate series), 2023, Recycled shoes, thread, glue, zipper, 37 × 35 × 13 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Tenant of Culture, Flash s/s (Acetate series), 2023, Recycled shoes, thread, glue, zipper, 37 × 35 × 13 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Tenant of Culture, Flash s/s (Acetate series) (detail), 2023, Recycled shoes, thread, glue, zipper, 37 × 35 × 13 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Tenant of Culture, Puzzlecut Boot Miscellaneous (2), 2021, Recycled, shoes, handbags, padding, shoe last, glue, thread, 40 × 34 × 12 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Gradients of the Grotesque, Installation view, 2024. Photo: Kilian Bannwart

Tenant of Culture, Puzzlecut Boot Miscellaneous (2) (detail), 2021, Recycled, shoes, handbags, padding, shoe last, glue, thread, 40 × 34 × 12 cm. Photo: Kilian Bannwart