LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK features a new series of works by Louise Lawler in which she has photographed the Judd exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Sfumato), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Intervals), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 187.6 cm
48 × 73 7/8 inches

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Details
Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Sfumato), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Sfumato), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Intervals), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 187.6 cm
48 × 73 7/8 inches

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Intervals), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 187.6 cm
48 × 73 7/8 inches

Details
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Photographs of artwork created by other artists have been the subject matter of Lawler’s oeuvre since the late 1970s. The artist’s practice involves complex photographic investigations of often overlooked or tacitly aesthetic forms of art experiences in museums, collections, auction houses, or storage depots. Lawler’s work analyzes the conditions of exhibiting and the fate of objects, the "life" of the photographed artworks. It shows how their meaning changes with respective environments and forms of presentation, and documents the market’s growing influence on developments in the art system. In contrast to classical institutional critique, the artist withholds judgment in her work, leaving it open to ambiguity.

 

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Cadmium), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 181.6 cm
48 × 71 1/2 inches

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Details
Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Cadmium), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 181.6 cm
48 × 71 1/2 inches

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Cadmium), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 181.6 cm
48 × 71 1/2 inches

Details
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Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

 

Lawler’s latest body of work focuses on Donald Judd’s sculptures as they appear in the 2020/21 exhibition Judd at the Museum of Modern Art in New York—one of the largest-ever retrospectives of the late American minimalist artist’s work. These photographs were taken over the course of two nights: after visiting hours, as the exhibition’s title suggests, without artificial light, in the dark. They mark a logical, consequential new development in Lawler’s work, but also open it to a new level of interpretation.

 

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Bullnose), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 172.1 cm
48 × 67 3/4 inches

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Details
Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Bullnose), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 172.1 cm
48 × 67 3/4 inches

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Bullnose), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 172.1 cm
48 × 67 3/4 inches

Details
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This is the first time that Lawler has shown the "life" of art objects in the dark, that is, when their reception is not only institutionally prohibited but also limited, almost precluded by the pure physical conditions of the space.

 

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (MoMA), 2021
Gelatin silver print
48.1 × 40.5 cm
19 × 16 inches
65.1 × 55.2 cm (framed)
25 5/8 × 21 3/4 inches (framed)

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Night), 2021
Gelatin silver print
20.3 × 49.2 cm
8 × 19 3/8 inches
37.5 × 65.7 cm (framed)
14 3/4 × 25 7/8 inches (framed)

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Judd), 2021
Gelatin silver print
23.8 × 18.9 cm
9 3/8 × 7 3/8 inches
41 × 35.2 cm (framed)
16 1/8 × 13 7/8 inches (framed)

Judd’s iconic work is restaged in an aesthetic of shadow that imbues with a particular, almost meditative calm. Only viewers very familiar with Judd’s work could make out the immaculate shapes of his familiar "boxes," "stacks," "progressions," "bullnoses," or "channel pieces" at first glance.

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Details
Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (MoMA), 2021
Gelatin silver print
48.1 × 40.5 cm
19 × 16 inches
65.1 × 55.2 cm (framed)
25 5/8 × 21 3/4 inches (framed)

Louise Lawler
Untitled (MoMA), 2021
Gelatin silver print
48.1 × 40.5 cm
19 × 16 inches
65.1 × 55.2 cm (framed)
25 5/8 × 21 3/4 inches (framed)

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Night), 2021
Gelatin silver print
20.3 × 49.2 cm
8 × 19 3/8 inches
37.5 × 65.7 cm (framed)
14 3/4 × 25 7/8 inches (framed)

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Night), 2021
Gelatin silver print
20.3 × 49.2 cm
8 × 19 3/8 inches
37.5 × 65.7 cm (framed)
14 3/4 × 25 7/8 inches (framed)

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Judd), 2021
Gelatin silver print
23.8 × 18.9 cm
9 3/8 × 7 3/8 inches
41 × 35.2 cm (framed)
16 1/8 × 13 7/8 inches (framed)

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Judd), 2021
Gelatin silver print
23.8 × 18.9 cm
9 3/8 × 7 3/8 inches
41 × 35.2 cm (framed)
16 1/8 × 13 7/8 inches (framed)

Details
icon_fullscreen
1 of 3

Judd’s iconic work is restaged in an aesthetic of shadow that imbues with a particular, almost meditative calm. Only viewers very familiar with Judd’s work could make out the immaculate shapes of his familiar "boxes," "stacks," "progressions," "bullnoses," or "channel pieces" at first glance.

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

 

Many photographs show only their surfaces in various degrees of darkness. In some instances—Untitled (Brass and Blue), for example—it is the faint reddish light of an "EXIT" sign that allows a glimpse of the photographed sculptures.

 

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Brass and Blue), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 180.3 cm
48 × 71 inches

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Details
Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Brass and Blue), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 180.3 cm
48 × 71 inches

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Brass and Blue), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 180.3 cm
48 × 71 inches

Details
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Other images, such as Untitled (Reflection) and Untitled (Sfumato), show ambient light reflected on the works’ anodized aluminum surfaces, creating the impression of a sunset. But it can also happen that a viewer finds themselves confronted only with a disorienting range of dark, abstract-seeming shades, as in Untitled (First Night), for example.

 

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Reflection), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 176.8 cm
48 × 69 5/8 inches

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (First Night), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Second Night), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.2 cm
48 × 71 3/4 inches

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Details
Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Reflection), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 176.8 cm
48 × 69 5/8 inches

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Reflection), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 176.8 cm
48 × 69 5/8 inches

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (First Night), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches

Louise Lawler
Untitled (First Night), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.9 cm
48 × 72 inches

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Second Night), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.2 cm
48 × 71 3/4 inches

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Second Night), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 182.2 cm
48 × 71 3/4 inches

Details
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The longer one looks at Lawler’s exceptionally large-scale works, the stronger the spell they cast. The experience of them is immersive, triggering eye reactions similar to those we know from dark nights and unlit rooms: the pupil, retina, optic nerve and brain re-adjust to the image’s new lighting conditions to allow us to see better and more, make out smaller and finer details, perceive the works with growing clarity. In a sense, these photographs—created in the museum’s nocturnal hours—prompt a kind of night vision, an adaption of the eye to the dark. They succeed in nothing less than transforming the viewer’s visual perception. Even beyond their visual quality, Lawler’s images are characterized by a striking aesthetic density. The aluminium plates on which they are printed give the photographs themselves a sculptural quality. Their materiality mirrors Judd’s works in that regard.

 

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Skylight), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 200 cm
48 × 78 3/4 inches

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Details
Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Skylight), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 200 cm
48 × 78 3/4 inches

Louise Lawler
Untitled (Skylight), 2021
Dye sublimation print on museum box
121.9 × 200 cm
48 × 78 3/4 inches

Details
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Viewers stand confronted with a sober, yet almost entrancing beauty, one that draws focus to the smallest details and subtlest shifts in perception. The captured shades and hues of night have an abstract poetry all their own—broad, almost painterly graduations of dim and shadow. It is a poetry that not only makes palpable the emptiness of the exhibition spaces at night, it also lends Donald Judd’s depicted sculptures a striking new aura. We literally see them in a new light. Lawler strikes an astonishing balance here: she simultaneously lifts the veil on the nocturnal museum and keeps its mystery intact.

 

Louise Lawler – LIGHTS OFF, AFTER HOURS, IN THE DARK – Berlin

All installation views by Ingo Kniest