Day and Night by Otto Künzli and Therese Hilbert

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Therese Hilbert, Otto Künzli

The meticulous geometry which defines the physical object itself as well as its surface, suddenly reveals something that goes beyond the nature of the piece itself: a dimension of depth and force.
Depth and force bubbling from Therese Hilbert’s pieces inspired by the volcanoes, always interested and influenced by their great nature and by their uncontrollable force, the telluric energy and their unpredictable yet fascinating masses.
The depth of an inner dimension emerging from the pieces by Otto Künzli shaped in form of an eye:  looking quietly, never judging, asking the viewer “Who are you?”, as the Caterpillar asked once to Alice…
 
Surfaces for both Otto and Therese are a medium to slip ourselves elsewhere: this movement, from the plane to the depth is due by the tension of the surface; by the essentiality of the form, by the pureness of lines and geometry and, above all, by the conscious choice of using few materials.
So let’s pretend to be all Alice and, by looking “beyond the mirror”, through the skin of the pieces, we wonder at the works and we wonder about who and what we are.
 
The split from the plane surface to the depth in Therese Hilbert has a peculiar movement: from the bottom to the top: you split over the shimmering surface, or over the sophisticated asperities of the stones emerging from the skin of the pieces, witnessing the energy of the volcano and, by metaphor, the inner energy of all of us. Sometimes erupting, sometimes hardly controlled, restrained and filtered. This particular kind of movement from the bottom to the top, as a resurgence, could be considered   -in my opinion - as a resemblance of the extroverted character, always oriented to the others and energized by the interaction with the external world.
 
Otto Künzli’s depth traces a different trajectory which ends up on the other side of the piece.
The “Auge/Eyes” pieces by Otto, taken from the series QUIDAM (in ancient Latin, “someone”) are a long-term project that Artist developed upon the study of reflection: whether the eye is a small sign carved on a corian surface, or a small obsidian pebble emerging from a wooden or stone surface, reminding to the twinkle of a pupil, that gaze is always harmful and never judging: reflecting both the sight of the viewer and the inner eye of each of us.
And whereas the depths of the volcanoes remind to the extroverted character, these eyes are, to me, signs of the introverted one: much more acquainted to reservation, silence and quietness.
 
Is there any correspondence between the essentiality of the surface and the depth of the piece? I would say yes and their effects are unpredictable yet amazing.
The viewer is caught by the pureness of geometry and – at the same time - by the deepness of the other dimension: that sustained intensity provided by the surface tension will offer to the viewer two different paths: maybe the path of the extroversion or the one of introversion, or both of them…because they’re bound together, like day and night.
 
Text by Nichka Marobin, Art Historian and Jewellery Curator, 2018 (*)
 


About Therese Hilbert & Otto Künzli:
For over 45 years we have worked separately but together; in other words, each of us works on our own things in one and the same workshop. We exchange ideas on (almost) everything, discussing our activities continually, rasping and sharpening one another as if we were blades and whetstones and showing little or no generosity to one another in the process. As a rule we have exhibited and continue to exhibit our works in separate shows. Being married doesn’t mean we always have to come as a pair.

Excerpt from the article: &: Hilbert & Künzli at Gewerbemuseum Winterthur. A guided tour by Therese Hilbert and Otto Künzli, 2016


Therese Hilbert, born 1948 in Zurich. She trained as a Goldsmith at the Schule für Gestaltung, Zurich.  Following this she worked for several jewellers in Zurich, Bern and Munich in the early seventies before studing for six years under Professor Hermann Jünger at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. She has been recognised with prestigous prizes: the Federal Stipend of Switzerland in 1972/74/75, the Herbert Hofmann - Prize IHM, Munich 1974, the Prinz Luitpold Prize 1985, the Munich sponsor ship award for the applied arts of  the city of Munich 1986 and the Bavarian Stateprize in 2001. Since 1969 she exhibits internationally. Here works are in public collections in Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Boston, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hanau, Houston, Jerusalem, Melbourne, Munich, New York, Pforzheim, Tokyo and Vienna. She lives and works in Munich

Otto Künzli is one of the most renowned and respected jewellers working today. The Swiss-trained, Munich-based artist has created truly iconic examples of contemporary jewellery. Künzli’s minimalist, yet meticulously crafted work references cultural phenomena, utilising the power of metaphor and iconography with wit and sophistication. As director of the Jewellery department at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Munich from 1991 to 2014, he taught a number of prominent contemporary jewellers including Lisa Walker, Karl Fritsch and Helen Britton.  In March 2013 his major retrospective titled The Exhibition showcased his extensive ouerve and was accompanied by The Book, a comprehensive catalogue documenting a career spanning over 40 years.


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(*)
 
Acknolwledgments
This text is a “nocturne” inspired by Gilles Deleuze’s “Second Series of Paradoxes: of Surface Effects” from “Logique du Sens” and a daily re-reading of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the looking-glass, and What Alice Found there”.
My heartfelt thanks go to Hannah Gallery as well to the Artists Therese Hilbert and Otto Künzli for the opportunity they gave me: it is has been a great privilege to work with them as well as together with Hannah Gallery’s team.
 
References:
Heike Endter, Fukidashi, catalogue text for the exhibition  “Fukidashi” at Galerie Witterbrink, 2009;
Heike Endter, Little One-eye, Little Two-eyes, Little Three-eyes, catalogue text for the exhibition  “Quidam” at Galerie Witterbrink, 2017;
Ellen Maurer Zilioli, critical text for Therese Hilbert’s solo exhibition “Aus der Tiefe by Therese Hilbert” at Maurer Zilioli Contemporary Arts gallery, 2018;
 
Playlist
John Field, Complete Nocturnes, Elizabeth Joy Roe, Decca Recording.
Simeon Ten Holt, Canto Ostinato for two pianos and two marimbas, Sandra and Jeroen Van Veen, Kontor New Media Music, (Brilliant Classics);
Simeon Ten Holt, Palimpsest for string septet, Doelen Ensemble.

About Nichka Marobin:
A Dutch and Flemish art historian graduated at the Faculty of Letters of Padova, with a thesis on ornamental prints of the Renaissance between 1500 and 1550 in Germany and the focusing on the migration of forms, themes and styles starting from the engravings by Cornelis Bos, Cornelis Floris II, Lucas van Leyden and Tthe German Little Masters. In 2011 she founded the blog, “The Morning Bark”: a blo(g)azette on arts and literary disciplines, where she posts her articles through a multidisciplinary path in the fine arts, books, fashion and contemporary jewellery. In 2014 she started her project called “Les Métissages” developing the concepts of migration of forms and ideas by juxtaposing contemporary jewellery and fashion creations. Her blogazette, The Morning Bark, is one of the official media of JOYA Barcelona, the international contemporary jewellery fair and Gioielli in Fermento, an international contemporary jewellery contest. She is a passionate collector of contemporary jewellery.
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