The annual exhibition of Aargau artists has its firm place in the exhibition programme of the Aargauer Kunsthaus. A collaboration of the Aargauer Kunsthaus and the Aargauer Kuratorium, this year’s edition will again open with a festive reception in early December.

For ten years now this annual exhibition has been providing an opportunity for local artists to present their work and at the same time apply for work grants. Any artist with a demonstrable connection to the Canton of Aargau is eligible to participate.

In October, two expert juries, one on behalf of the Aargauer Kunsthaus and the other on behalf of the Aargauer Kuratorium, have independently judged the submitted works.

191 artists have submitted their files for Auswahl 14. Out of these, a total of 56 artists have been selected by the jury for inclusion in Auswahl 14. The resulting exhibition offers a wide-ranging and stimulating survey of current artistic practices in the Canton of Aargau. At the exhibition opening on 5 December, the Aargauer Kuratorium will award its grants for work in the visual arts. At the same time the Neue Aargauer Bank will present its annual advancement award to a young artist.

Guest: René Fahrni

René Fahrni (b. 1977) ist the guest artist of the&nbsp;<i>Auswahl 14</i>. He recreates petrol pumps, sailing ships, or the wheels of a car, he adapts an office furniture set made of Lego pieces to the size of children’s furniture, or he develops a wind tunnel in which small objects are made to vibrate and then photographed. The materials used are quite plain: wood, plaster, glue, chicken wire. With great skill and a fine sense of material, Fahrni manufactures them into objects and groups of objects that, somewhere between model and dummy, serve as the protagonists of a fantasy world. His fuel pump, for instance, is reduced to its characteristic features. Almost like a caricature, the full-size object stands in the exhibition, opening up space for speculations: who is tapping what here?