Matthias Schaller: Leiermann

The exhibition presents Matthias Schaller‘s series “Leiermann”, inspired by Franz Schubert’s composition Der Leiermann, which imitates and reinterprets a poem by Wilhelm Müller. Schaller’s work focuses on two subjects, complementary in his vision, namely the city of Venice and mirrors, which he intends as metaphors of the city itself.
Just like in the case of Schubert’s imitation of the poem, for Schaller mirrors create fleeting imitations of reality. The artist photographs ancient mirrors in Venetian palaces and museums: the pictures highlights how beautiful and fascinating locations are in reality obscured by a sad aura of “absence”, reflecting the situation of the city of Venice, gradually abandoned by its inhabitants year after year.