Picture Ballot: Me/Not Me

The Kunsthaus Zürich presents an exhibition of self-portraits entitled “Me/Not Me“. The approximately 40 paintings, three-dimensional and graphic works, photos and videos from the Kunsthaus collection include pieces by Chuck Close, Urs Fischer, Giovanni and Alberto Giacometti, Urs Lüthi, Pipilotti Rist, Dieter Roth, Egon Schiele, Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing and many others.

The Kunsthaus collection contains portraits from the late Middle Ages to the present day. With the changing conceptions of the role and social status of the artist that follow the Renaissance, the self-portrait becomes an important medium for exploring one’s own psychological state and reflecting on oneself as human being and artist. Guest curator Daniela Hardmeier begins her selection for the ‘Picture Ballot!’ exhibition at the end of the 19th century, a time of accelerating social and technological change. Psychological insights transformed our view of human beings and their inner life. ‘Me/Not Me’ examines artists’ views of the self, the acuities and depths of their own existence. Beginning with the external appearance as it presents itself, the self-portrait plays with the possibilities of an identity constructed first in one’s own mind and then in the mind of the viewer. Inner states are turned outwards, gestures and accessories are deployed symbolically in order, by placing oneself in the picture, to convey an image of the self.