Deborah Schamoni

Opening 27.02., 6–8 pm

Leaf through any textbook of human civilization and sooner or later you’ll find the familiar diagram: a circle crossed with evenly spaced diagonal lines—the primitive wheel. In grandiose rhetoric, the book informs us that it is this invention from which humanity descends. The tire, in comparison, can seem like the wheel’s lesser cousin—a minor improvement, useful but nowhere near as groundbreaking. Without the creation of the pneumatic tire, however, our society’s staggering complexity would seem unthinkable.

In CMYK, Hopf’s sculptures provide the humble tire with its much-needed due. Elevated on pedestals, the tire is the star of this show. But the advent of the car—ushered in by the tire—was also the date that the horse disappeared from the city’s streets. A series of large ink drawings depicts the horse succumbing to drowsiness, its powerful body splayed indolently across the ground. Paired with the venerated tires, these animals, by nature always alarmed and ready to flee, seem to take a break; in deep sleep, they recover from all the trouble and costs of constantly being prompted to speedily deliver people and things.

Text (excerpt): Andrew Wagner