Leander Schwazer

Within the project Inventur (inventory), the creation of ‘living’ paintings – a desire of every painter and sculptor since the Renaissance – is understood in a literal way: micro-organisms nestle in heavy canvases, creating ‘living paintings’, which require special care and attention.

The crises of our times have definitively turned any fantasy of human omnipotence into impotence. The time has come to seek new alliances, in addition to human ones. This is exactly what I have tried to do in the context of the benno barth award for socially engaged art projects, and in doing so, I have tried to extend the concept of ‘social’ beyond the purely human sphere.

It was about bringing different living beings together. The Inventur project is based on a very personal material, the hand-woven sheets of my ancestors. The textiles date back to a time when ‘upcycling’ – the recycling and repair of textiles – was still part of everyday life for the mountain population of South Tyrol. This is testified to by the numerous patches skilfully applied to the fabrics. These have a history, they tell of their use and of the people who have lain on them. The project literally fills them with new life.The sheets of my ancestors became living pictures. For this purpose, tiny micro-organisms were inserted into the fabrics. In collaboration with the London-based Post Carbon Lab, it was ensured that they would actually settle in the fabrics.

Inventur is an attempt to take stock, a research trip to a new concept of art in which as many living beings as possible are involved. The benno barth award has stimulated a whole series of new, multifaceted works. Works, in which ‘the other’ has taken up residence and which require special attention.

Leander Schwazer, Wiesen in November 2023