Yala Juchmann
prima materia
5. September – 2. März 2015

Lichthaus Arnsberg presents the solo exhibition "prima materia" by the artist Yala Juchmann. The title refers to the Latin term "prima materia" according to Aristotle's teachings on the constitution of the world of things. Matter and form, basic concepts in sculpture, are analysed here using the example of an everyday object.

A glass bottle is a glass bottle. We hold them in our hands every day and know them in a variety of shapes, colours and facets. We don't give it any further thought, at best we are interested in its contents. This is usually a liquid, which itself symbolises change and transformation. Liquid is vital for our organism and even makes up a large part of it. Even a glass bottle was once liquid itself on its way to becoming a mould, as was ultimately the light house in its glass, steel and concrete components.

Materia prima is an important concept in alchemy as well as philosophy. While Aristotle considered primordial matter to be more of an intellectual construct, the alchemists of the Middle Ages and early modern period researched such a material primordial substance of unformed matter. Physical transformation processes, such as distillation processes, were supposed to produce a purified, perfected primordial matter. It was not only the physical process that was important, but also the inner transformation of the alchemist. It is precisely this personal confrontation with matter, the challenge of many artists, and the utopian search for its origin or core that is the starting point for the research in this exhibition.

Yala Juchmann analyses history and melts architecture back to a possible primordial point, a ray of light. In the Lichthaus Arnsberg, the artist realises a sculpture made of empty glass bottles, which she piles up to form a monumental wall. The site-specific installation divides the Lichthaus into two areas, a light side and a shadow side. Juchmann's experiments with glass, light and reflections modulate new ideas of what surrounds us in everyday life. Beyond the materialisation of the concrete installation, our perception creates an impression of matter before and beyond materiality.

Yala Juchmann was born in Hagen in 1984, grew up in Arnsberg and has lived in Berlin since 2005. She studied Fine Arts at the Berlin University of the Arts, at the Kuvataideakatemia Helsinki and at the Cooper Union in New York. The exhibition at Lichthaus Arnsberg is her first institutional solo exhibition.

The art project is being realised with the kind support of the brewery C.&A. Veltins brewery.