Boujee Broke Bitches: Decadence and Delusion in Sarah Kürten's Cologne Solo Show
Through lightboxes and collaged poems, Sarah (Millennial, German) imagines relatable scenarios of a (not really) aspirational lifestyle.
Taking a look inside
Lightboxes like those used for ads outdoors filled with acetate film reminding of old projector slides occupy the walls of the rectangular high-ceiling space. They’ve got that distinct ’60s-coded pastel color palette. Even the cables are pink. As if you just looked up the Pink Panther cartoons on Pinterest for your new super-niche nail art trend.
Speaking of trends and the new, Sarah knows how to bring together nostalgia and novelty. She mashes hyper-contemporary lifestyle references into a vintage aesthetic. Pop Art legends Andy Warhol (1928-1987, American) and Richard Hamilton (1922-2011, British) come to mind. The recurring pink and blue combo is giving Andy’s color block silk-screen prints while the collaged snippets of interiors seem heavily inspired by Richie.
PLENTY, BUT MUCH COLDER THAN EXPECTED (2023) consists of two separate lightboxes with a variation on the same motive. A pug snuggled up in an Acne Studios scarf sits on a sink. Toilet paper (I’m getting war throwbacks to the pandemic memes) and brown liquor on the shelf above (such a missed opportunity for a cocaine line). A third of the scene is covered by a green shower curtain. Dividing the scene into squared acetate film works so well here as it mimics bathroom tiles. And it harmonizes perfectly with the grid windows of the exhibition space. But the curtain makes me think of even more. It reminds me of curtains in baroque paintings and the backlit texture is similar to church window mosaics. I see what you did there, Sarah.
Why bathroom interiors? I’d argue it’s your most intimate space. More than your bedroom even that you might share with someone else. Your bathroom sees the most vulnerable version of you. It’s the room that sees your meltdown, your flowing mascara, your pep talk getting ready for that job you hate. It’s the place of girlhood getting ready for a night out where you might become best friends with a stranger you met at the club bathroom. I might be reading too much into this, but you’re gonna look at me and tell me that I’m wrong???
Yeah, but can you even pronounce Loewe?
Have you watched Triangle of Sadness (2022)? I couldn’t make it past the vomit-diarrhea-orgy on the cruise, but I see parallels in Sarah’s show as she exposes the thin line between lavish luxury and precarity.
The titles are everything. Take her work THIS IS AN AUBERGE - NOT A HOTEL (or A STONEMASON WORKS STEADY EVEN ON THE WEEKENDS) (2023) for instance. Roughly cut-out snippets hold together an interior space. Snippets of an email postbox peek out underneath, missed messages drown in piles of paper. That damn toilet paper. Can’t decide what’s more decadent: the iPhone and Aesop mouthwash (in this economy???) or the small bowl with a lemon slice and something I suppose to be oysters. The enlarged silhouette of a 30€ Sisley Eau du Soir soap bar accompanies the text in THE CUTTLERY DID NOT ARRIVE (2023). There are several references to weird almond mom diets. This work reminds me of the sister in Fleabag (2017-2019). I feel like Sarah’d be a fan girl. Collage works perfectly for this flat, shallow lifestyle.
The text and lightbox combo is giving Jenny Holzer’s (Baby Boomer, American) repetitive cynical mantras. In POLISHED WOODWORK, WHITEWASHED CEILING, STAINED FLOOR (2023), there’s the phrase All work is done for a sound purpose. Totally a line that Jenny would use… Sarah’s bored cadence and list of random daily routines spiced up with a luxury item here and there is something in between Carrie Bradshaw’s inner monologue and Andy’s diary entries (I recommend looking into his diary, it feels like scandalously gossiping with the dramatic successful friend at a restaurant over margaritas).
Sarah constructs an ambiguous POV. There’s a seventeen-hour shift, ordered food, almost not catching a train. But there’s also duvet covers and fine dining. In between, The sensation of poverty after paying rent. Whose thoughts am I reading?
Her work evokes a Deja vu. She uses references that contextualize her scenarios in the post-pandemic world (Attention span 5 sec. probably being the most obvious bit). And yet there’s something vintage, something very Breakfast at Tiffany’s-y (1961) about them. I imagine a girl from a small town who moved to the big city to pursue her dreams. A romanticized life between rags and riches.
There’s a saying in Russian that goes something along the lines of “Every novelty is just the well-forgotten past.” Sarah’s choice of ‘60s aesthetics fits perfectly. Trends repeat, life cycles. Our unprecedented times might have more in common with the experiences from decades ago than you might think. The girl boss is just another babe barely getting by.
Enjoy some pretentious poverty at Sarah Kürten: careful what you wish for, until March 2, 2024, at Artothek im Haus Saaleck.
Artothek im Haus Saaleck
Am Hof 50
50667 Cologne
Website
Instagram: @sarahkuerten // @artothekkoeln
Kinda wanna watch Sex and the City after this show (or I’ll actually try to finish Triangle of Sadness). How about you? If you know somebody who’d enjoy reading about Sarah’s show, feel free to share this review. Or let me know what you think with a like or a comment. Or both. Luv u!
See you soon!!!
Jennifer
The Gen Z Art Critic