03 Dec 2013

KMD - Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp at Cully

'[…] in Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love—they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock!' – Orson Welles
A cuckoo that marks time, beats the passing of the days and the trickling of the minutes, and strikes the hour with its repetitive song. An idyllic image of peace and contentment? Or a cliché hackneyed to the point of sheer boredom? Which one is the cuckoo evoked by Armen Eloyan? What plumage and what song will he choose to fill the tiniest exhibition space when he next spends a few days in Cully to prepare his forthcoming exhibition at the KMD? There are birds of all colors and all shades from black to white, but what color will this bird be? And what hour will it strike? Perhaps the twilight hour when all the cats are turning gray? And what cuckoo would ever dare to break the silence of such an hour?

Born in Yerevan in 1966, Armen Eloyan has been living and working in Zurich since 2005. Recent exhibitions include: Sailor, Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich, 2013; Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam, 2011; Local Gothic and Culture, Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen, 2013; De Belles sculptures contemporaines, Frac de Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France; Mais in deinem Früchtekorb, Galerie Zink, Berlin, Germany, 2012; Viel Lärm um Alles, Haus für Kunst Uri, Altdorf, 2011; Bruges Central, City Festival, Bruges, exhibition curated by Luc Tuymans.