Judith Albert

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Judith Albert (* 2. May 1969 in Sarnen) is a Swiss visual artist. Video pieces form the core of her work. Installations and drawings also play a central role, often in combination with the media of video or projection. The artist has realised numerous interventions in public spaces.

Life

Judith Albert grew up in the rural environment of Alpnach Dorf in the Swiss canton of Obwalden. She completed an apprenticeship as a stationer. In 1990, she travelled to Paris for two years. Back in Switzerland, Albert enrolled at the Schule für Gestaltung (school of design) in Lucerne. In 1993, she transferred to the Höhere Schule für Gestaltung (higher school of design) in Zurich, where she completed her studies in fine arts after four years.

Since then, Albert has lived and worked in Zurich, with regular periods of working temporarily elsewhere in Switzerland and abroad. Thanks to various scholarships, she has held extended artist residencies in Genoa (2002–03), Paris (2007) and London (2011–12). Albert participates in international art exhibitions and video festivals. Since 2006, she has been working together with her partner Gery Hofer in designing public interventions, among other things.

Works

Since the 1990s, Judith Albert has been making her groups of works in the medium of video. From the beginning, she has worked with coincidences and with what is available, drawing inspiration from metaphors, everyday situations and the powerful atmospheres in the works of Félix Vallotton and Jan Vermeer. Usually she herself also steps in front of the camera, acting as both filmmaker and leading actress at the same time. But it is not about her as a person; as the artist says, “I’m more of a variable, a placeholder. Most of the time you don’t even recognise me in the pictures.” Yet her body contributes to the sensual presence of the video images. One example is the video Livingroom, with which Albert participated in the exhibition Freie Sicht aufs Mittelmeer at the Kunsthaus Zürich in 1998. The video, filmed under water, shows the artist carrying pillows and blankets to the bottom of a pool and lying down to sleep there. Judith Albert always works with simple situations or actions. These are carried out slowly and deliberately. They follow the rhythm of the breath and water, which make the flow of time perceptible. The video series Haiku (1999), named after the Japanese short form poetry, also condenses snapshots into symbols without relying on loud sounds or strong contrasts: “I don’t like either/or. After all, cross-fertilisation is possible. Poetry does not have to be apolitical – it is also a commitment to the quiet and subtle and to differentiated nuances.”

The videos do not adhere to contrasts in terms of genre either, mixing documentary and fiction, coincidence and staging. Works inspired by art historical originals form carefully arranged tableaux vivants such as Nu à l'écharpe orange (2009), after Vallotton, or Zwischen der Zeit (2004), after Vermeer. A work such as Orte an denen ich glücklich war, on the other hand, is influenced by the uniqueness of a historical moment. In this series, ongoing since 2004, Albert captures her forearm in short shots against backgrounds that vary in terms of the time of day, weather and where she is. In more recent works, the artist also experiments with several layers of projection. Dunkle Wolke (2013) and Mare mosso (2015) are filmed twice, so to speak: an initial shot is projected onto paper, which is manipulated and filmed again in the process; it is this second shot that forms the work. Albert’s light drawings are a recent group of works.

Albert’s works in sacred spaces develop another theme. Without calling herself religious, the artist, who grew up in Catholic central Switzerland not far from where Nicholas of Flüe was active, has installed or shown several works in churches. In the Cathedral of St. Ursus in Solothurn, which was devastated by an arson attack in 2011, Judith Albert redesigned the choir together with Gery Hofer and Brauen Wälchli Architectes, Lausanne. The Carrara marble used for the altar, baptismal font and ambo, which, like all marble, was formed from limestone, takes up the building material of the old cathedral. The shape of the altar, like the title of the project, L’ultima cena, makes reference to Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Last Supper fresco and the tradition of celebrating the Eucharist on an altar covered with a white cloth. The 2007 series 4 neue Schutzheilige (4 New Patron Saints), conceived for public spaces, in turn adopts the format of popular small pictures of saints. From photographs found on the internet, Albert has designed new patron saints for the present, including Heiliger Horatio, Schutzpatron der Zeit (Saint Horatio, Patron Saint of Time).

Awards

• 2016: Innerschweizer Kulturpreis (Central Swiss culture prize)
• 2011: one-year artist-in-residence, Landis & Gyr Stiftung (Foundation), London
• 2006: Eidgenössischer Preis für Kunst (Swiss Art Award)
• 2003: Unterwaldner Preis für bildende Kunst (award for visual art of the canton of Unterwalden)
• 2001: studio grant in Genoa awarded by the city of Zurich
• 2000: jury prize, Innerschweizer Jahresausstellung (Central Swiss annual exhibition) Lucerne

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• 2018: Continuo, Kunstmuseum Solothurn (cat.)
• 2016: Seh Meer, Benzeholz Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst (Benzeholz space for contemporary art) Meggen
• 2015: Prolog, Grossmünster Zürich (cat.)
• 2014: Zwischen der Zeit, Kunstverein Friedrichshafen DE (cat.)
• 2012: Moving Pictures, Jerwood Room, LMH, Oxford UK (cat.)
• 2011: Zwielicht, Kunstraum Engländerbau, Vaduz FL
• 2009: Tamed Light. Neue Videoarbeiten, Kunstmuseum Luzern (cat.)
• 2005: Kein Wasser. Kein Mond, Nidwaldner Museum, Stans (cat.)
• 2004: Bilan d’un été, Espace d’Art Contemporain (les halles), Porrentruy
• 2003: Judith Albert, Musée des beaux-arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds (cat.)
• 2002: Das Eine. Das Selbe. Das Gleiche, Kunstpanorama Lucerne, together with Urban Mäder

Group exhibitions (selection)

• 2021: Silver Spoon, APSMUSEUM, Shanghai
• 2021: WIR. Bilder für eine neue Kunst des Zusammenlebens, Worpswede
• 2021: 7. Biennale am Kulturort Weiertal, Winterthur (cat.)
• 2020: Ritual - Kontemplation - Obsession, DG Galerie, München (cat.)
• 2019: Passion. Bilder von der Jagd, Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur (cat.)
• 2018: où sommes nous, OBORO, Montreal Canada
• 2017: Arte Albigna, Bergell (cat.)
• 2016: Point(s) de vue, Musée jurassien des Arts, Moutier
• 2015: Invent the Future with Elements of the Past, Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich (cat.)
• 2014: La Dada Die Dada She Dada, Forum Schlosspark, Aarau; Kunstmuseum Appenzell; La Manoir, Appenzell (cat.)
• 2013: Making Space. 40 Years of Video Art, Musée cantonal des beaux-arts de Lausanne
• 2012: Das Atelier – Orte der Produktion, Kunstmuseum Luzern
• 2011: Viel Lärm um alles, Haus für Kunst, Uri (cat.)
• 2009: Gefrorene Momente, Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur (cat.)
• 2008: Die Seele einer Zuckerdose, Villa Flora (Winterthur) (cat.)
• 2007: Top of Central Switzerland, Kunstmuseum Luzern (cat.)
• 2007: SURRéALITés, Centre Pasquart, Biel (cat.)
• 2005: Ruhe im Sturm, Kunsthalle Zürich
• 2003: Pantalla Suiza, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid ES
• 2000: Pulsions, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris FR (cat.)
• 2000: BAC Barcelona Arte Contemporáneo, Barcelona ES
• 1999: Another Swiss Panorama, Centre pour l’Image Contemporaine, Genève
• 1998: Dogdays are Over, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris FR
• 1998: Freie Sicht aufs Mittelmeer, Kunsthaus Zürich / Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (cat.)
• 1996: Körper, Identität, Irritation, Kunsthaus Glarus

Video festivals

• 2014: International Festival of Films on Art, Montreal CA
• 2008: Bild-Rausch-Videofestival, Saarbrücken DE
• 2007: SHIFT Festival der elektronischen Künste, Basel (cat.)
• 2003: International Video Art Festival, Priština KO
• 2002 and 2003: V.I.D. Festival für Videokunst, Bern
• 1998: Sélection Suisse. 19. Video Art Festival, Locarno

Permanent works in public spaces

• 2020: Uster, Werkhofareal (work yard area), Öl auf Wasser, floor mosaic, with Gery Hofer
• 2020: Church of St. Peter und Paul (Bern), Raum der Stille und des Lichts, with Gery Hofer (cat.)
• 2019: Winterthur, ZHAW (University of Applied Sciences) health department, Basics, wall engravings, with Gery Hofer (cat.)
• 2016/2019: Lucerne, XUND Höhere Fachhochschule Gesundheit Zentralschweiz (XUND college of higher education for health professionals, central Switzerland): Streiflichter, light drawings, with Gery Hofer
• 2012: Lausanne, CSS: Vasistas, video installation, with Gery Hofer
• 2012: Solothurn, Cathedral of St. Ursus: l’ultima cena, choir room design, with Gery Hofer and Brauen Wälchli Architectes
• 2011: Biel/Bienne, Mettlen school building: La Promeno, sound installation, with Gery Hofer and Martin Bezzola
• 2010: Montreux, Sacré-Coeur: Ciel, church window, with Gery Hofer (cat.)
• 2007: Giswil, Hotel “Krone”: Mundart, hotel room design, with Gery Hofer (cat.)
• 2006: Sarnen, Berufs- und Weiterbildungszentrum Obwalden (Obwalden centre for professional and advanced studies): Signale, sound installation, with Gery Hofer and Stephen Lumenta

Bibliography

• Judith Albert. Basics. Texts by Linda Schädler and Nils Röller. Edizioni Periferia, Lucerne 2021, ISBN 978-3-907205-11-2.
• Kunstmuseum Solothurn (ed.) Judith Albert. Continuo. Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nürnberg 2018. Texts by Christoph Vögele and Isabel Zürcher. ISBN 978-3-903228-41-2
• Judith Albert: Durch das Auge der Hand. In: Adrian Notz (et al.): Invent the future with elements of the past. Texts by Adrian Notz, Sandra Bradvic and Isabel Zürcher. Scheidegger & Spiess, Zürich 2015, ISBN 978-3-85881-487-6, pp. 158–171.
• Kirchgemeinde Grossmünster Zürich (ed.): Judith Albert. PROLOG [der; griechisch; das «Vor-Wort»]. Dient als Anfang eines Mythos und bringt diesen mitunter schon in Bewegung (= Kunst in der Krypta, no 3). Texts by Christoph Vögele, Michael Donhauser, Martin Ruesch. everyedition, [Zurich] 2015.
• Judith Albert (Interview). In: Niklaus Oberholzer: Stille Post. 27 Begegnungen und Momentaufnahmen. Edizioni Periferia, Lucerne 2013, ISBN 978-3-906016-27-6, S. 90–99.
• Michael Donhauser: Nahe der Neige. Urs Engeler Editor, Basel/Weil am Rhein 2009, ISBN 978-3-95757069-7, pp. 39–43.
• Losreissen. 52 Lose Zeichnungen. Judith Albert, Barbara Gschwind. Martin Wallimann, Alpnach Dorf [2005], ISBN 3-908713-52-8. (52 drawings and an insert in a box.)
• Nidwaldner Museum (ed.): Judith Albert. Kein Wasser. Kein Mond (= Nidwaldner Hefte zur Kunst, 6). Texts by Ingrid Textor and Regine Helbling. Nidwaldner Museum, Stans 2005, ISBN 3-9522723-5-3.
• Judith Albert. Texts by Beate Engel and Jean-Paul Felley. Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-de-Fonds, Société Suisse des Beaux-Arts, Zurich 2003. ISBN 3-7965-2043-X
• Ulrich Loock (text): Judith Albert Videoarbeiten. In: Obwaldner Künstlerhefte, 2/2001, Martin Wallimann, Alpnach Dorf 2001, ISBN 3-908713-17-X.

External links

• Literature by and about Judith Albert in the German National Library catalogue
• "Albert, Judith". SIKART dictionary and database.
• Judith Albert’s website
• Judith Albert on Artlog
• Judith Albert on Arttv
• Journal für Kunst, Sex und Mathematik, private blog with illustrations of works, mainly from 2010

References

This article "Judith Albert" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Judith Albert. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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