Galerie im Taxispalais

Claudia & Julia Müller

Menschenzoo (Human Zoo)

The exhibition by Basel artists Claudia & Julia Müller (born 1964/1965) in the Galerie im Taxispalais will be the biggest institutional presentation of work by this unusual artist duo in Austria to date. The sisters have been working together since 1992 and are among the most important representatives of the current Swiss art scene.

Their work developed from drawing on paper, but has been taking over three-dimensional space since the mid 1990s. Huge wall drawings, in combination with collages, sculptural objects, video and everyday items, transform the exhibition area into multilayered narrative spaces. Starting out from a store of media images and photos, including their own family photos, they have developed an oeuvre that investigates cultural contexts in a humorous and critical way, posing questions about those mechanisms that create and imprint our identity. Repeatedly, the artists focus on animals, which are set in relation to man. Here, it is always a matter of relationships, patterns of behaviour, posing and role play – of the ways in which we approach others.

Claudia & Julia Müller have developed a work entitled “Human Zoo” for the Galerie im Taxispalais, which comprises three large spatial installations. In these interrelated works, mural paintings, drawings, collages and objects in the form of oversized hula-hoops or stuffed animals citing the local fauna thematise man’s imitation of natural environments in places such as zoological gardens, hippie architecture, and children’s play areas. Abstract architectural forms are set against a figurative pictorial language, presenting a different view of our living environment and questioning its true nature. Demonstrating great anthropological  sensitivity, the artists create stage-like, allegorical scenarios that reflect and manifest the human longing for natural forms of play and lifestyles.

Claudia & Julia Müller

Claudia Müller was born in 1964, Julia Müller in 1965. The two sisters live and work in Basel.

Selection of individual exhibitions: 2009 Maccarone Inc., New York; Kunstverein Friedrichshafen; Zeppelinmuseum, Friedrichshafen; 2008 Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn; Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich; 2004 Grazer Kunstverein, Graz; Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart; Kunstmuseum Thun, Thun; 2003 Wohnzimmer, Basel; Espacio Uno, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; 2001 Kunsthalle Basel; 1997 Kunsthalle Basel; 1996 Kunsthalle FRI-ART, Fribourg; Künstlerhaus Hamburg; 1995 Kunsthalle St. Gallen; 1994 Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel.