Maya Rochat
"TOO MUCH METAL FOR ONE HAND"

Exhibition: 16 March – April 23, 2016
Opening: Wednesday, 16 March, 18:30pm

Maya Rochat breaks away from the constant stream of images that nowadays seems to flow in a sort of uninterrupted murmur. She distorts, destroys and tears up, sprays, paints and draws, recomposes and superimposes, sometimes in fits of instinctive rage, the photographs on which her work is based. In the age of Internet and digitalisation, she works directly with matter, bringing out the structure and physicality of her images.

Inspired by the energy and atmosphere of metal concerts, her series ‘Too Much Metal for One Hand’ consists of suggestive, saturated images, which undermine the usual codes of interpretation and disrupt the modes of perception of those watching. Contrary to a documentary approach, Maya Rochat offers an immersive experience that questions a picture’s capacity to represent reality. There is plenty of tension and clamour in her stormy and noisy works, as well as a sort of softness that viewers will only find after pushing back their own limits and overcoming chaos, as in a cathartic process. The installation presented at Espace Quai 1 was specifically devised by the artist for the venue. Photograph-performance, mutant-collage that combines still and moving images, blurring the boundaries between the worlds of analogue and digital and their techniques: the artist invites audiences to invent their own narrative thread.

Born in 1985, Maya Rochat (Switzerland) received her Bachelor in Visual Communication from École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL), where she was rewarded with an award for excellence. She gained a Master’s degree with merit at HEAD – Geneva in 2012. She currently divides her time between Berlin and Switzerland. Her works have been shown in solo and collective exhibitions at the Tate Modern in London, the Centre pour la photographie in Geneva and at Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Maya Rochat is a multidisciplinary artist, also active in the fields of installation, curating and publishing.

In 2013, Maya Rochat took part in Vevey International Photography Award, organised by the Festival Images.

More information: www.mayarochat.com