Since the early 2000s, the name Tauba Auerbach has been synonymous with what Roberta Smith, in her first New York Times review of the artist’s work (2003), describes as ‘abstraction by other means.’ Tauba Auerbach, born in 1981 in San Francisco and now living in New York, traces the visible and invisible patterns, structures and rhythms that shape our universe. Experimenting across mediums is Auerbach’s hallmark. The generous show at the Fridericianum in Kassel — Auerbach has the whole building to their disposal — consists of two parts: an overview of their work featuring paintings, drawings, weavings, films, artist’s books, typography and sculptures, and an extended presentation of their publishing project Diagonal Press.
One of the show’s most delicate moments is the presentation on metal plinths of several works of woven glass beads, made especially for this show. These works, which all carry the name ‘Org’, are a mixture of textile work and sculpture characterised by an innovative aesthetic and formal language, and at the same time a remarkable versatility. It’s these works, with their crystalline and lacy presence and their touch of familiarity, that give Auerbach a strong position, uniquely placed in the slippage between contemporary art and design.
The presentation of Auerbach’s publishing project Diagonal Press is an extra reason to visit the show. Diagonal Press was founded by the artist in 2013 and aims to continuously give more space to their experiments in the fields of typography, book design and production, as well as the applied arts. The spectrum of its output ranges from books, calendars, posters and flags to toys, accessories and jewelry. These are produced in unlimited and unsigned editions to make them accessible to a broad public.
