WAITING FOR RETURNS

CARO NIEDERER (1968-)

This book presents a survey of fabric works by Swiss artist Caro Niederer. Her starting point is often a personal snapshot taken during travels abroad or in her local neighbourhood. By transferring this source imagery into other media, such as paintings, silk prints or woodcuts, Niederer plays with the subtle shifts of form and meaning that occur in such physical transformations. Since the early 1990s Niederer has collaborated with textile workers in China to produce precious hand-made silk carpets and embroidery. As the images move from the artist to the local craftsmen the images – as in the children’s game of Chinese Whispers – undergo an inadvertent yet sometimes radical cultural transformation. By reproducing her motifs over time, Niederer creates delicate self-reflexive connections: “My practice is like an open spiral that moves with time. My work revolves around the subject of memory and the question of what remains that is valuable”.