Doris Salcedo

The Fondation Beyeler devotes a comprehensive solo exhibition to internationally acclaimed artist Doris Salcedo (*1958 in Bogotá, Colombia), conceived in close collaboration with the artist herself and her studio.

Doris Salcedo’s compelling works are the outcome of years of socio-political research, experimentation with techniques and materials, and questing for artistic form. Salcedo’s interest centres on cross-cultural emotions and sensations such as empathy and grief, as well as our handling of the ever-repeating cycle of forgetting and remembering in the context of violent conflicts. Even though her works often take specific events as their starting point, their reach is universal and their impact inescapable. Rather than simplistic depictions, Salcedo searches for viewers’ shared emotions and sensations. Salcedo works with a wide range of materials: stone and cement, wooden furniture, needles, items of clothing, silk, grass, water, flower petals or hair. Her unusual transformation of these materials allows her to «represent violence without violence» and to make pain and suffering palpable without showing them explicitly.

The approximately 100 works on display, from eight major series of works, comprise key pieces on loan from museums and private collections, and provide a comprehensive insight into the practice of this significant artist.