Mai-Thu Perret (b. 1976) has drawn considerable attention nationally and internationally for her multidisciplinary work that comprises sculpture, installation, painting, video and text-based art with a wide-ranging frame of reference underlying it. Of central importance within this reference frame are avant-garde movements of the 20th century and utopian concepts of life.

Titled The Adding Machine, the solo exhibition mounted by the Aargauer Kunsthaus highlights the multifaceted approach of Mai-Thu Perret’s artistic practice. In addition to older work it includes numerous pieces that were created specifically for this show, as well as works that are shown for the first time in Switzerland, such as Space-Time Rhythm Modulation – The Most Difficult Love (2010). In this video installation Mai-Thu Perret intertwines literary, historical and autobiographical references. Earlier largescale installations such as A Uniform Sampler (2003) and Little Planetary Harmony (2006) – an accessible sculpture in the form of a supersized tea pot – are juxtaposed with a new series of ceramic reliefs as well as small-scale acrylic paintings, objects, text-based works and carpet pieces. Mai-Thu Perret is creating four neon pieces and a wallpaper design exclusively for the Aargauer Kunsthaus. A key work in the exhibition is a video piece titled In Darkness Let Me Dwell (2010) that is reminiscent of a surrealistic reverie.The exhibition in Aarau offers opportunities to discover new and surprising cross-references between Mai-Thu Perret’s individual works.

The Adding Machine, Mai-Thu Perret’s most comprehensive exhibition in Europe to date, is organized jointly with the MAGASIN – Centre National d’Art Contemporain in Grenoble, France, where a modified version of the exhibition will be on view in the fall of 2012.