Galerie Thomas Zander is delighted to present two exhibitions of new work by Andrea Geyer and Candida Höfer. In Geyer’s installation autobiographic and collective memories resonate with the life and work of Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman. Höfer’s large-format photographs of the Belgian House explore a special part of Cologne’s history and its relationship to Belgian culture.

In her multidisciplinary practice, Andrea Geyer investigates the lived experience of history and politics. She defines art as a site where past and present can coexist. “We cannot uninvite the ghosts,” Geyer reminds us, as she develops the intimacy and complex layering of her installation Feeding the Ghosts: Empty slide projectors throw light onto the walls of a darkened space in a setting of tables and books, desk lamps and chairs. The voice-over takes its lead from Akerman’s reading A Family in Brussels, which Geyer attended in 2001 and which has had a lasting impact on the young artist. As Geyer’s monologue progresses, the subject positions gradually interlace. Experiences of loss in Akerman’s family alternate with Geyer’s own family history and her experiences in New York after 9/11. The installation creates a space in between the personal and the political, memory and fiction.

The series Resonant, in which Geyer incorporates her experiences at protests against police violence in the US, is also built in polyphonous layers. Based on photographs and news images, Geyer drew outlines of protesters and transferred them onto paper in iridescent silver layers. They reflect the gestures of protest that at once express vulnerability and political power in the face of repression.

Andrea Geyer, born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1971, studied at the Braunschweig University of Art and lives in New York City. Her work has been exhibited in numerous international institutions including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Museo Jumex, Mexico-City; Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum, New York; Vienna Secession and Tate Modern, London. The artist was represented at documenta 12 and the São Paulo Biennial. The monograph Andrea Geyer: Dance in a Future With All Present offers insights into Geyer’s most recent projects, investigating in particular the marginalized yet pivotal role that women have played in formulating American modernism.