Ausgeweidet/Gutted

To gut something - ausweiden - is an act of visceral extraction. It implies removing the interior contents, stripping away protective shells, disemboweling structures of meaning, and laying bare the raw mechanics beneath.

„ausgeweidet / gutted“ brings together seven artistic positions that interrogate the unearthing of hidden mechanisms, cultural dogmas, and intimate memories. Carried by a somber aesthetic, the show unfolds a continuous gothic undertone that manifests in a reduced and sharpened material language. The collision of charred wood, cold metals, and animal remains transforms the exhibition space into a kind of modern reliquary in which destruction and preservation seamlessly merge. The use of burned and CNC-milled timber points both to historical rituals of purification and to the fascination of the ruin, while steel components, aluminium rails and car fragments bring a harsh rigidity into the space. In between, organic materials such as cowhide, horsehair, animal teeth, and rabbit fur form a raw, post-mortem counterweight that questions the interfaces between human, animal, corporeality, and sacrificial ritual. Within this material field of tension, the works subvert religious symbolism and societal architectures of control.

In doing so, ausgeweidet / gutted strips away the protective shell of objects and belief systems, questioning what new meanings emerge from the hollowed-out remains.

Featuring works by
Nicole Brandstaetter, Margo Dubovska, Josepha Edbauer, Leonie Holtkamp, Darryl Oswald, Marlene Stahl and Daniel Wendt

Curated by
Leonie Holtkamp and WAF