Substances is a techno-utopian textile fiction. It offers speculative perspectives on the history of the cotton trade from the late 18th century to the present, linking this history to the omnipresence of synthetic materials and chemical substances. Substances is a conglomerate of artistic projects that critically negotiate and actualize Switzerland's colonial entanglements within the broader framework of an extensive textile history.
Finissage On Surfaces and Structures: Site-specific solo show by Stefanie Knobel at the Volkarthaus
Saturday, May 24
6 pm
Together with Charlotte Matthiesen and Nina Richard, Stefanie Knobel will be showing her new performance The House, developed for the atrium of the Volkarthaus
6 pm
Performance: Stefanie Knobel, Charlotte Matthiesen, Nina Richard
Movement dramaturgical accompaniment: Jessica Huber
Soundmixing/Mastering: Vidyand Bhashkar
(not voice-based)
Limited number of seats (please register here, the event space is not barrier-free accessible. Visitors who are dependent on assistance are asked to indicate this when registering so that we can provide the best possible support).
6.45 pm
Short tour of the exhibition with the curator Annette Amberg in the exhibition
7 p.m
Presentation and discussion of jointly selected archive material of the trading company Gebrüder Volkart between the historian Prof. Dr. Harald Fischer Tiné, the curator Annette Amberg, as well as the artist Samrat Banerjee and myself, with the participation of Vera Ryser and Rohit Jain (in English)
From 8 pm
Music by Valentina Stieger
Apéro & Party
For more information on the exhibition see below.
On Surfaces and Structures: Site-specific solo show by Stefanie Knobel at the Volkarthaus
Stefanie Knobel, seeping in, 2025, installation view. Foto: Guadalupe Ruiz
Stefanie Knobel, Untitled, 2025, installation view. Foto: Guadalupe Ruiz
Still from seeping in, 2025
March 23 – May 25, 2025
Opening: March 22, 6:30 pm
Coalmine – Raum für Fotografie, Winterthur
April 14
Guided tour with Stefanie Knobel
following the Literary Salon with Martin R. Dean and Miguel Garcia: Tobacco and Chocolate
May 8, 6:30 pm
Exhibition tour with Annette Amberg, curator
May 15, 7 pm
Performance-Sharing On Surfaces and Structures
as part of the introduction tour of Tanzfest Winterthur 2025
May 24, 6 pm
Closing event with performance The House, developed for the Volkarthaus, followed by a discussion with guests
In her solo exhibition Stefanie Knobel explores the Volkarthaus, the place in whose basement the exhibition space “COALMINE - Raum für Fotografie” is located. The building was constructed in 1904/05 by the architects Jung & Bridler for the “Handelshaus Gebrüder Volkart”. Founded in 1851, the company soon became a leader in global transit trade, exporting raw cotton from India, among other things. In the exhibition, Stefanie Knobel enters into a dialog with the cotton itself by using a spatial intervention, a video work and a performance to make visible the multi-layered relationships between the history of the raw material, trade relations with India and her own position as an artist.
Opening: March 22, 6:30 pm
Coalmine – Raum für Fotografie, Winterthur
April 14
Guided tour with Stefanie Knobel
following the Literary Salon with Martin R. Dean and Miguel Garcia: Tobacco and Chocolate
May 8, 6:30 pm
Exhibition tour with Annette Amberg, curator
May 15, 7 pm
Performance-Sharing On Surfaces and Structures
as part of the introduction tour of Tanzfest Winterthur 2025
May 24, 6 pm
Closing event with performance The House, developed for the Volkarthaus, followed by a discussion with guests
Four works were produced for the exhibition:
Stefanie Kobel, Untitled, 2025
Stefanie Knobel, Seeping in, 2025
Stefanie Knobel, The House, 2025
Samrat Banerjee and Stefanie Knobel, A Cotton Conversation, 2025
More information (in German)
Postcard set A heavy, heavy duty – where the cotton lies
Cotton first became widespread in Europe in the 11th century. Until the 17th century, inspired by descriptions from Europeans who had traveled abroad, ideas circulated about the Lamb of Tartary (or Barometz), a hybrid creature part animal and part plant that supposedly produced cotton. These ideas may have been an attempt to transfer the origin of wool – which is known to come from animals – to that of cotton, imaging it as similarly derived from animals.
The postcards of the 12-piece postcard set form a science fiction landscape on the decaying bodies of two “cotton lambs” and feature visualizations from the fantastical tale of A heavy, heavy duty. On the reverse is a quote from the work. The postcard set is available now for CHF 25.