Guided Tour of Substitutes by Philipp Gufler and Wilfred van Buuren

Substitutes, initiated by Philipp Gufler, is on show at W139 from 22 April to 18 June 2023.

The exhibition engages with queer history and discourses around the body, gender, and sexuality. It features artists across several generations working in a variety of mediums to contextualise and converse with these discourses. The exhibition is about the absence of bodies, the abstraction of the body, and the tools and language we use to maintain or describe our bodies—costuming, staging, masks, layering, clothing. It questions the normative frameworks that queer and functionally diverse people are subjected to. The human body is, paradoxically, both absent and present within the exhibition.

Substitutes brings together works of Lorenza Böttner, Johanna Gonschorek, Elisàr von Kupffer, Rabe perplexum, Louwrien Wijers, Johannes Büttner, and Bruno Zhu. Philipp Gufler will show a new work titled Body/Text: a large-scale silk screen printed textile piece that draws inspiration from Elisàr von Kupffer’s panorama painting Klarwelt der Seligen (Clear World of the Blissful). By connecting contemporary discussions to historical perspectives, the exhibition aims to create a ‘living archive’. Drawing together artistic positions from then and now, the exhibition traces queer lives and networks from the past to our present.

Wilfred van Buuren (1964) has been living in Amsterdam his entire life. He is a historian. He works as Head of Collections at IHLIA LGBTI Heritage. He is passionate about books, men and basketball.

Philipp Gufler spans various media in his practice, including silkscreen prints on fabric and mirrors, artist books, performances, and video installations. Since 2013 he has been an active member of the archive Forum Queeres Archiv München.

The exhibition is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 18:00.

Visual identity by Jacob Hoving.

This exhibition is generously supported by Mondriaan Fonds, Gieskes-Strijbis Fonds, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, Goethe Institut, Centro Elisarion, Pro Elisarion Association, Monacensia im Hildebrandhaus, Forum Queeres Archiv München, Grafisch Atelier Hilversum and Fonds21.