Michail Pirgelis
Akropolis
January 30–April 1, 2010
Berlin
Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Michail Pirgelis in Berlin. The artist, who was born in Germany and grew up in Greece, is displaying in ‘Ακρόπολης – Acropolis’ new sculptures and objects which are all based on original parts of airplanes.
Pirgelis’ works oscillate between readymade, appropriation and autonomous sculpture, but they also transcend these categories, not least of all through the material which he favors. The airplane parts which, even after their actual utilization, continue to be valuable, and which Pirgelis collects from scrapyards throughout the world, extend the history of the objet trouvé by establishing an extreme position. The concentration on the airplane, which has been optimized with regard to its utilization by human beings in accordance with natural law, situates the works in a productive discourse concerning the relationship between humanity and the technological progress which has had a decisive influence on a modernism characterized by reflection. Flight as the ‘most improbable’ form of human locomotion, together with its mythic connotations, continues in this context to be imbued with a deep fascination.
