CHRISTOPH WEBER

Christoph Weber studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (Academy of Fine Arts) in Leipzig 1999–2002, where he was a student in Astrid Klein’s master class 2002–2005. Parallel to this, he also studied conceptual art with Renée Green at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts) Vienna from 2000 to 2001. In 2002, he was a guest student in Georg Herold’s class at the Kunstakademie (Academy of Art) Düsseldorf.Weber has received several grants and was an artist in residence at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York, in 2010 and 2003, and an artist in residence at the Cité des Arts in Paris in 2008.

Christoph Weber is fascinated by the qualities of concrete, which he refers to as ‘his’ material. The artist is drawn to its malleability, its ability to be processed, and its inherent creative potential. He takes full advantage of the process of drying and curing, manipulating the concrete’s form for his sculptures while subjecting it to different forces: laying it on a steel plate, tipping it over, letting it collapse. These movements are always visible in his sculptural objects. The work becomes a kind of frozen or hardened process.Concrete evokes metaphors of violence and power. It is inevitably associated with industrial processes used in architecture, and it sis a quintessential example of the promises of Modernism. Weber expands on these connotations in the formal processes he initiates–adding decisive moments of vulnerability or fragility, for example–condensing his sculptures into multifaceted metaphors that oscillate between power and impotence, creation and destruction. (Konrad Bitterli)

Selected exhibitions: Kunstverein Leipzig, Germany (solo, with Judith Fegerl) (2016); Kunstraum Düsseldorf, Germany (solo, with Birgit Werres) (2016); Marta Herford, Germany (2016); Belvedere–21er Haus, Vienna, Austria (2015); Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland (2014); Austrian Cultural Forum, New York City, New York (2014); Biennale de Belleville 2, Paris, France (2012); The Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel (2011); Vleeshal, Middelburg ,The Netherlands (2010); BAWAG Contemporary, Wien (solo) (2008); Neue Galerie, Studio, Graz (solo) (2007)