Liselotte Höhs. Animal magnetism

Liselotte Höhs, Viennese by birth but Venetian by vocation, whose life and work are deeply intertwined with this amphibious city, will present from 1st to 30th September 2011, the Marciana National Library her new creations at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice.

When, as an eighteen-year-old, Liselotte Höhs arrived in Venice, she fell in love with the city at first sight. Mozart's friend the Viennese doctor Mesmer, writing in the early 19th century, would have classified this fatal attraction as "animal magnetism", and explained it through the mysterious energetic fluid which enshrouds the whole universe and its living beings. Like Mesmer, Liselotte Höhs is convinced that there are forces, energies beyond those which are known to the exact sciences, secret interactions occuring between humans and other beings. It's no coincidence that she fell in love with Venice, the city which has spontaneously grown in the shape of a fish - she was even born under the sign of Pisces. An innate love between Venice and her, the same affection that she feels towards the animals who steadly fill up her creations. The concept of animal magnetism refers to a non-anthropocentric world view, which considers animals not as subordinates but as models. This is the reason we use to say "brave like a lion", "tame like a dog", "eyes like a hawk", etc..

In this exhibition, including mostly new works, Liselotte Höhs shows her inner empathy with the animal world by using natural materials for her works of art: sheep wool carpets knotted by Tibetan craftsmen in India, escaped from persecutions, who share the same world view of Liselotte, a non-anthropocentric view respectful towards any kind of living beings. Liselotte's works of art are simultaneously modern and antique. They draw inspiration - like the sheep's fleeces upon which the Dervishes use to lay after having danced - from the primeval religion, ground layer of any spirituality, the universal shamanic religion.

from September 1, to September 30, 2011
Liselotte Höhs. Animal magnetism
Sale Monumentali of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
Venezia San Marco – Museo Correr's entry