YOU NAME IT

The work of Sasha Huber (1975 Uster, ZH) focuses on the politics of memory and belonging, and in particular on the historical traumas of colonialism. Sensitive to the subtle threads that link the past to the present, the artist uses archival documents as part of a multidisciplinary practice that includes performance, video and photography, as well as collaborative interventions. Her projects approach natural spaces as contested territories, highlighting the ways in which history is imprinted on the landscape, notably through acts of memory and commemorative practices, such as the attribution of specific names to cities, institutions and buildings, but also to places on earth and in our solar system, such as mountains, lakes, glaciers, forests or craters.

YOU NAME IT is Sasha Huber's first solo exhibition in French-speaking Switzerland. It presents more than a decade of work from her participation in the "Dismantle Louis Agassiz" campaign of cultural and political activism, founded by historian and political activist Hans Fässler, which aims to deconstruct the racist legacy of Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), a renowned Swiss-born glaciologist and naturalist, but also a prominent proponent of racial segregation and white supremacy. Nearly eighty places around the world and half a dozen animal species bear his name. By questioning the terminology used to designate geographical spaces or animal species, the artist questions not only who and what we commemorate, but also, and above all, how we do it. Through videos, photographs and archives, this major solo exhibition responds to the artist's ongoing commitment to repairing history and acknowledging the suffering of the victims of slavery and racism.

YOU NAME IT is initiated, organized and circulated by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, in collaboration with Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam; Autograph ABP, London; Turku Museum, Finland and Ferme-Asile, Sion.

Curated by Noor Alé, Associate Curator, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto

In conjunction with the exhibition at Ferme-Asile, discover the video Rentyhorn (2008) at the Musée d'art du Valais, Sion.


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.